Robot Boy
by Luna-Soul-Sky
Summary: Toby is just your ordinary 12-year-old kid. He lives in Metro City. But one day, he goes to the Science Laboratory of America, and finds out that he has his own robot copy. But in order for it to be activated, there has to only be one. What will Toby do?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Astro Boy, and I have no claim to any of the material I have put into this story. this story is just meant for fanfiction, and fanfiction only.**

**Hey, guys! This is my first Astro Boy Fanfic! Just please R&R and tell me what you think about it!**

Chapter 1

Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled over the Science Laboratory of America (SLA). The overhead lights flickered in the laboratory. A man ran through the hallway, heading toward the main lab. His job was to deliver the blue core to the lab and deliver it to Ed without dropping it. He turned the corner and came to a large door with blinking overhead lights.

He pushed the door open rapidly and it slammed shut behind him as he hurried in. A scientist in a lab coat looked up from putting rocket bottoms in the legs of a robot. He walked over to the man; the man was out of breath from running through the halls. "You brought it," he breathed as he took the core from the man's hands.

The man panted for breath, his hands on his knees. "That was meant to be…my job."

As the scientist hurried back over to his robot, the man left the room. Ed looked up at a screen above his head and pressed some buttons. He glanced down at his creation and smiled. He peeked over at his fellow workmen, who were watching him work cautiously, and he began to speak. "My creation is based upon a child; a 12-year-old boy named Toby Tenma." He picked up the blue core and studied it in front of his face. "He will come tomorrow and visit us. Then and only then will we be able to know for sure if this robot was meant to be in this world, and if not, then we will have wasted millions of dollars making this."

His workmen murmured their agreements.

Ed placed the blue core in the robot where the heart goes in a human, and closed the compartment door. He turned around to face his colleagues. "Now we wait."

...

My name's Toby Tenma and I'm 12-years-old. I live in Metro City and it is an awesome place to live. I got a call from Ed asking me to pay him a visit, because he had a surprise for me. I accepted his offer, but then right after that, I got grounded.

I was going to sneak out! I put on my red boots and my favorite jacket, and snuck downstairs. I could hear my parents arguing in the kitchen over who was going to make dinner. I shook my head. I hate it when they argue over little things like that.

I opened the door quickly but quietly, and walked out the door, closing it behind me. I headed quickly down our driveway all the way to the sidewalk and began walking to the SLA. It was all the way down our street, practically out in the middle of nowhere. The sidewalk ended, which began the gravel part of the road.

The SLA is the most fascinating place I've ever been in. I've been in there thousands of times. I was like a full-fledged scientist! The main scientist, Ed, was like my second father. I couldn't wait to see what his surprise for me was. The SLA came into view at the top of the hill. I ran towards the entrance and pushed open the door.

Scientists and workers were scurrying all over the place, carrying machine parts and pushing carts full of test tubes. I strolled down a packed hallway, being pushed around every which way. "Hey!" I grumbled. "Watch it!" I turned a corner and looked down a hallway that was as empty as a school restroom in between classes. I followed the hallway all the way down to the end, which came to a large door. I knocked on the door a couple of times.

A voice sounded from inside and I pushed my way in. Ed was sitting in a chair, and next to him was a woman with bright clothing. I've seen him plenty of times, but her? No, never in my life have I seen her.

"Come in, Toby. Please, have a seat," Ed called to me. He motioned for me to sit next to the woman.

I cautiously picked my way over to the chair and sat down, looking up at him. "So, what's this _surprise_ you have for me, Ed?"

Ed stood up and walked over to a control panel. "Oh, nothing big," he said, smiling a big, wide grin. He pressed a button that made a loud whirring noise. I jumped and looked at where the noise was coming from. A table was being lowered from the ceiling, and on the table was a robot that looked exactly like me.

"Oh, wow!" I exclaimed. "A copy? Of _me?"_

Ed chuckled a little. "It's nothing compared to what I'm about to tell you."

I raised my eyebrow and studied the robot more. Sure enough, it looked exactly like me. It had black hair with one spike in the front, and another one in the back on the opposite side. It wore the exact same red boots I was wearing at the time, and though it had no clothes on except for a pair of black shorts with a green strap, it was exactly like me.

I looked back over at Ed expectantly, and then pointed to the woman beside me. "Who is she, Ed?"

Ed sat down in his chair and began. "Well, the reason why the robot isn't activated is because if we activate it right now…" He paused. "Well…great chaos will befall Metro City." My eyes widened as he began again. "So in order for us to activate the robot, there has to only be one copy."

My mouth dropped open. "So…are you saying I have to _die?"_

Ed looked at his feet and nodded. "I'm sorry, Toby." He looked up at the woman. "That's why we have a fortuneteller here for you."

The fortuneteller scooted to the front of her chair and looked into a crystal ball on the table that I hadn't noticed before. "You wish to see your fate, yes?" I nodded and she continued. She began to gaze intensely into her crystal ball. "I see…" she began, "I see you walking down a road…" She looked more carefully at her crystal ball. "You are walking to a friend's house…wait. What's this?"

I looked at the fortuneteller as her eyes widened. "A yellow car is coming, license plate: DP21087. This yellow car has hit you and you are thrown into a ditch on the side of the road… Shall I continue?"

I shook my head and examined the ground in front of me. I looked up. "C-can you tell me when I die?" I stammered.

The fortuneteller nodded. "October 27, 2071."

I sighed. "So in two weeks? I have two weeks to live?"

"That's the way it looks," Ed finished and put his hand on my shoulder. "I'm so sorry, Toby."

I put my head in my hands. "I can't believe it," I murmured, tears forming in my eyes. "There's still so much to do."

"Let me explain," Ed started. "When you die, the robot will be activated and released to wherever you were going. It will sound like you, be like you, and know what you know."

"So will it know that the real me…?" I cut off abruptly, wiping the tears on my sleeve. "I'm confused."

"No, it will not have the knowledge that you died." Ed stood up and walked over to the robot. "Once you're gone, we will activate the robot and it will continue going to your friend's house." He looked at me. "You do have spare clothes at your friend's house, right?"

I nodded. "At all my friend's houses."

Ed nodded. "Okay. If you don't have any other questions, you'd best be getting home. Don't want your parents to worry about you now, do you?"

I stood up, blinked in confusion, and said my thanks sarcastically (but I don't think he noticed), and then I walked out the big lab doors and went down the hallway. As I exited the SLA, I thought for a moment (which actually turned out to be the whole walk home). _I have to die in order for the robot to be activated, and the robot will continue my consciousness?_ I shook my head to clear it as I scrambled up the steps to my house.

I opened the door, and right when I took a step inside, my parents stood in front of me blocking my way. I looked up and fake smiled. "Er, hi," I half-laughed.

"Where have you been, Toby Allan?" Mom asked. "We thought someone came and took you away!"

"I—"

"You were supposed to stay in your room the rest of the day!" Dad yelled. "You are now grounded from _everything_ for two weeks!"

My mouth dropped open. _"What?"_ I said unbelievingly. Then, I sighed and looked up into my parent's eyes. _I won't be able to do anything for two weeks, and then I'm supposed to die? Best. Life. _Ever.

Mom pointed up the stairs. "Go to your room!"

I sighed with disgust and marched up the stairs towards my room. As I opened and closed my door, I thought again. _The robot is_ exactly _like me, but it won't know that _I _died._ I shook my head and lay on my bed, staring at the ceiling, thinking about my death. _Who owns the yellow car? What should I do to keep my name from being on the news?_ I closed my eyes and drifted to sleep.

...

My eyes flew open as a car rushed by me. I looked at my surroundings. I was standing on the side of the road in my blue-gray jacket, white t-shirt, and gray-brown pants: My favorite clothes. I looked up and began walking down the road with my hands in my pockets. I didn't know where this dream road would take me, but I followed it anyway.

I paused as I heard a fast car approaching, the gears shifting very quickly. I turned to look at the oncoming car and my eyes widened. It was a yellow Dodge Viper.

The Viper sped up and began swerving all over the road. _The driver must be drunk, _I thought. I looked next to me, and sure enough, there was a ditch full of weeds conveniently right there. I turned back to look at the Viper. It was speeding up and it was about one hundred feet away. The Viper was going to kill me. "No!" I screamed as the Viper hit me in the side, crushing my ribcage.

...

I whipped up my head from my pillow, breathing heavily. My blankets were tossed around and I was sweating. I felt my heart and it was beating really fast. I calmed as I noticed that I was still alive and in my room.

Dad whipped open my door and looked in my room, his hair all tussled up and the hallway light on behind him, his eyes wide. "Toby, why are you screaming? You okay?"

I watched as my Dad turned on my overhead light. My eyes squinted in the sudden burst of light. "I had a nightmare. I'm fine."

Dad sat on the edge of my bed. "Do you want to talk about it?" he asked sleepily, rubbing his eyes.

I hesitated. _Should I tell him? No, I shouldn't, because it would give away my death, and my parents would worry too much, and they would keep me from everything…even school, maybe._ I shook my head. "No."

Dad nodded, got up, and exited the room. I sighed. He forgot to turn off my light again. As I got up and switched off the light, I thought about my dream. _A yellow Dodge_ Viper _was going to kill me and the driver was _drunk. _That is _totally_ the best combination of things: A fast car and alcoholic beverages._ As much as I wanted to have a copy of myself, I didn't want to die for it. I scrambled into my bed and pulled my covers over my head, falling back asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**The next chapter in my Astro Boy fanfic! I know I haven't gotten any reviews or anything, but I thought I shouldn't leave you guys hanging.**

Chapter 2

"Toby, get up!"

I jolted awake. I had finally gotten a good night's sleep after my first nightmare a few weeks ago. "What?" I yelled sleepily.

"Get up! Time for school!" Mom answered.

I looked over at the calendar to see what day it was. It was Thursday, October 25th. My heart began beating fast, but I had no idea why. I sat up on the edge of my bed, rubbing my face with my hands to help me wake up. I hoisted my body off my bed (regretfully) and put on my clothes: A black t-shirt, blue jeans, and my favorite blue-gray jacket. I headed downstairs, grabbing the bagel my mom had toasted for me and walked out the door. I chomped down onto the bagel, waiting for the bus to get to my stop.

After I was done with my bagel, the bus came around the corner of the intersection to the left of me. The bus stopped in front of me, the door opening, the bus driver glaring at me to get on. I hesitated, but I don't know why.

"Come on, Mr. Tenma. Get on," the bus driver grumbled.

I stepped up onto the steps and found my seat in the middle of the bus. During school, as always a tradition, I got bullied by the seventh graders, them pushing me around, pushing me up against lockers as they walked by, and this one was new: Making me drink their spit. And let me tell you, don't do it. You'd probably rather get beaten up than drink some raggy kid's spit.

After school was done, I walked home. You see, I never rode the bus home, even though my house was maybe thirty minutes away. I had had no idea that I had accidentally walked too far, so when I looked up expecting my house to be in sight, it was actually the SLA that was in front of me, parking lot and all. I paused, clearly confused as to why I had accidentally wound up here instead of home. I shrugged my shoulders and headed up the front steps. I entered the building, taking my routine walk around the hallways to get to Ed's lab. Once I got in the room, Ed looked up from working on a project.

"Toby!" he said, surprised. "What're you doing here?"

I sat down in a chair next to a long table. "To tell you the truth?" I asked, laughing to myself. "Well, I really have no clue why."

He smiled a half-hearted smile. "Well, do you know what day it is today?"

I shrugged. "The 25th? What's so special about today?"

Ed came and kneeled next to me on the ground. "What's so special is that in two days, you're going to die."

At the mention of my death, I froze up. _That's what was bothering me the whole day! Two more days and I was going to be killed._

"Doesn't that bother you?" he asked.

I shrugged, swallowing hard. "Well…yes, it does bother me, but…" I began to panic. I hadn't thought about my death for at least a few days, and I had totally forgotten about it. My nightmares came and went a few days ago, and never returned since last Friday.

Ed chuckled a little. "Yeah, I know. It's hard to think about your death, especially if it's coming up soon."

I nodded, swallowing hard again. "I just…don't want to die yet…" He put a hand on my shoulder and I looked away at the ground, tears forming in my eyes once more.

"Toby, don't think about it. It'll just come naturally. Don't you worry. Everything's going to be fine." I didn't answer and he sighed, standing up once more. "If I tell you some more about the robot, will it calm you down some? I don't want you to die either. I had no idea that there had to be only one copy in order for me to activate the robot."

I looked over at him, tears streaming down my face. Ed sighed again. "Toby, I…" He broke off and looked at the robot. "I can't stop your fate, you know. If I could, I would, but I can't. Fate is fate. You can't stop it."

I sighed and wiped the tears from my face onto my sleeve. Then, I laughed a little. "It's a good thing that I have two of these jackets, then."

Ed chuckled and placed another hand on my shoulder. "That's the spirit. Think about something else. Don't think about your death. It will happen as fate allows it."

I nodded and looked at the table up towards the ceiling. "So, what can this robot do?"

He followed my gaze and walked away, bringing back a clipboard with at least four pages of notes on it. He began reading it, and then he looked back at me. "Well, the robot can fly when it comes into contact with danger. Um, it has arm cannons that it can shoot on command… It also has super hearing and, like, a sort of x-ray vision. It's not really the x-ray vision that you can see through people's clothes, because that hasn't been invented yet." He blushed when he said that and cleared his throat. I giggled a little.

"And it also has machine guns it can fire…from…" He paused and looked back at his clipboard, chuckling. "Oh, you're gonna laugh. The machine guns are in its butt."

I giggled. "Why in its _butt?_ Why not in its, like, knee cap, or something?"

He shrugged. "I guess I didn't think about that…" He set the clipboard down on the table next to him and looked back at me. "Any other questions?"

I shook my head and stood up. "I best be going. My Mom's gonna freak if I'm not home in…" I looked at my watch. "In like ten minutes." I waved goodbye, Ed doing the same thing.

"Bye, Toby," he said.

I walked out the doors and headed down the hallway. I sideswiped dozens of scientists as they hurried from one room to another on my way out the exit.

Once I stepped in the door at home, Mom hurried over to me and hugged me tightly. I strained for air, and she let go of me. As I looked up at her, I realized that she was crying. I raised one eyebrow. "Mom? Why are you crying?"

She wiped the tears from her cheeks onto her sleeve and looked away. "Oh, I don't know…" She sniffled and wiped her nose on her sleeve, looking back at me. "I'm just glad you're home safe, I guess."

I looked at her confusingly. "Why? What's wrong?"

She looked back into the living room, and I followed her gaze, seeing the TV was paused and it was on the news channel. I looked back at Mom again and began walking into the living room. Once I got in there, she un-paused the TV from the kitchen, allowing me to watch what happened.

News bulletin music sounded as I sat down on the couch facing the TV. "Hello, I'm Jeff Cavanaugh and this is Metro City news. There has just been a report that two sixth graders at Metro City Middle School were just hit by a car on their way home from school. The two children have been released to the hospital and are currently in critical care. Names have not yet been released of the two children, but will be soon. Police are looking for the car that hit the two children. Witness reports are of a yellow car. If you have any information at all, please contact us."

Mom paused the TV and I looked over to see her standing there with a mug of whatever in her hands. It didn't smell like coffee, like she usually drank, so I was a little suspicious. But I didn't say anything, fortunately.

...

As I came home from school the next day, I entered the door and my father immediately tackled me. I grunted with surprise. "What the—? Dad? What are you doing?"

He began tickling me and I giggled, straining to get him off. "Dad!" I squeaked with giddiness. "Stop it!" I giggled as he continued tickling me. "Stop! Please, stop! That tickles so much it hurts!" I laughed.

He chuckled and stopped, standing up and brushing himself off. "Your mother's away at a meeting, and she asked me to take you somewhere for dinner. How does Paul's sound?"

I gasped with excitement. "Paul's Pizza Parlor? We're eating there? It's been _ages!"_

He chuckled and grabbed a jacket, swinging it over his shoulder on his way out the door I had just come in. I followed him, leaving my bag behind (of course), closing the door behind me as we left the house.

As we drove away to the city, I thought for a moment. _This will probably be the last day I spend time with Dad like this…_ I thought ruefully. _I should have done this more often, but…I guess I just was too busy with…doing nothing…_

_..._

I woke up, my heart pounding in my chest. I gulped in calming realization that I was still in my home in my bed. _God, I hope that was a dream…_ The night before, I had gone to Paul's with my Dad. When we drove home at about seven-thirty at night, the car in front of us swerved off the road and drove into a ditch, killing the driver and passenger. My Dad had reported it to the police and when we got home, it was on the news. I recognized the driver as one of my friend's Dads from school. I was so glad it wasn't me.

Yet.

I looked over at the calendar across from my bed. It was October 27th. I had thought the night before after the accident that I was going to go to Andy's house, one of my best friends since kindergarten. My Mom decided that I would be safer there than with them. I totally disagreed, but then my Dad told me not to argue, and I dropped it.

"Toby, hurry up and get ready so I can take you to Andy's!" Mom yelled at me.

I jumped at the sound of her voice. I was clearly lost in my thoughts of the night before. I sat up on my bed, rubbing my eyes from sleep (as was normal tradition), and strolled over to my closet. I put on a white t-shirt, my favorite blue-gray jacket, and my brown cargo pants, and ran down the stairs towards the front door.

As I opened the door, Mom grabbed me by the back of my jacket and I turned to look her in the eyes. "Are you gonna walk?" she asked, her eyes flashing with fear for me.

I nodded. I had totally forgotten about what was going to happen today. All that mattered was getting to Andy's house.

As I exited the house, I headed down the opposite way from the SLA, which was to the left towards 5th Avenue Street. Andy lived down 5th Avenue and then when you came to the middle of the street, you took a right down onto Andy's street, which was Oak Lane. I walked down the road towards 5th Avenue and a car raced by me. My clothes rippled in the accelerated wind and I looked back the way the car had gone. I paused, my heart skipping a beat. This was _exactly_ like the nightmares I've had; a car raced by me, and then… I turned my head back around and saw the yellow Dodge Viper approaching fast.

I quickly took a piece of paper and a pen out of my pocket and took a deep breath. I began to write on the piece of paper, praying to God that it wouldn't fall out of my hand when the Viper hit me. I threw the pen into a ditch (convenient, much?) and braced for impact, turning the opposite way from the oncoming sports car.

Tires squealed and I felt the Viper smash against my side. Blazing pain scorched through my side as I flew sideways. The Viper raced away and I landed in the ditch next to me. My eyes fluttered open and shut, my breathing labored. I could hardly breathe. And with the last of my strength, I took the note and placed it on my chest, and closed my eyes, beginning to float away.

...

"Bill?" Mom called from the kitchen. "Can you turn on the news?"

"Sure, honey!" Dad answered back. He picked up the remote from the coffee table and switched the channel. News bulletin music came on and Mom raced inside.

"Hello, this is Jeff Cavanaugh coming to you live from the outskirts of Metro City."

"Bill?" Mom's voice began to tremble as she pointed at the screen. "That's 5th Avenue… Toby was just walking down there!"

Dad shot to his feet as Mom started to grab for the phone. "Wait!" he screamed, and then lowered his voice. "It might not have been him. Just please, wait."

Jeff continued. "A hit-and-run was just witnessed on the corner of 5th Avenue and Rochester Street. A witness had reported seeing a yellow Dodge Viper hit a pedestrian on the corner of 5th Avenue and Rochester. The witness was driving by, seeing a young man about the age of fourteen walking down the road. Here he is." Jeff put the microphone up to the mouth of a middle-aged man.

"I went by the boy, and then I heard a very fast car approaching me. And so I looked out my rear-view mirror and I saw the car hit the boy and continue driving, but when the driver went by me, I couldn't make out the license plate."

Jeff chuckled. "Well, luckily, we found a note on the boy's chest." He opened it and began to read it aloud. "It says, 'Hello, Jeff Cavanaugh. I know it's you doing this report, so this note is for you. Please do not show my body on camera or say my name, if you know what it is. If you want to know the license plate of the car that hit me, it was: DP21087. Thank you… Anonymous'."

Mom looked at the screen blankly. "So it's not Toby, then?"

Dad shook his head. "It doesn't seem like it. The man said it looked like a fourteen-year-old. So it either had to be an eighth grader, or just someone's home-schooled kid."

Mom set the phone back in place on its charger. "Well, when I'm done making lunch, I'm calling over to Andy's to see if Toby made it safely."

...

A beeping sound began up in the science lab. Ed hurried over to a large screen to see that the red dot telling him Toby was still alive had disappeared. Ed closed his eyes in pain and regret, and when he opened them back up, there was a new determination in them. He looked back at the robot, eyeing it once more. He turned back around to see a big yellow button. Ed pressed it and the robot was raised into the air by some wires that came down from the ceiling, connecting the robot with the machine. It began to glow and whir, and then it stopped, and the wires released the robot. It hit the table and broke it, and then it fell to the hard, metal floor.

Ed looked up from covering his eyes. He walked forward cautiously and peered at the robot lying on the ground. For a second, Ed thought that it hadn't worked, but then…

The robot pulled back its hand and looked up, its eyes a light blue color. They were focusing on what was in front of it. It blinked and its eyes turned a milky-brown color just like the real Toby's eyes.

...

"W-where am I?" I asked, looking up at the man in front of me, whom I wanted to call Ed.

"You are at the Science Laboratory of America, or SLA for short," Ed answered. "You were here the night before, but passed out from lack of sleep."

I got up unsteadily to my feet. "I'll be on my way to Andy's then," I said, and then became confused. _Wait…who's Andy? Oh, yeah, he's my best friend._ I looked down and then realized that I had no clothes on. I began to cover myself up. "W-where are my—?"

"Just go, Toby," Ed chuckled. He motioned for me to leave.

_Toby…so that's my name, then,_ I thought. I looked suspiciously over at Ed, and then walked hurriedly out the door.

As I made my way to Andy's house, I looked around nervously, half-expecting someone to come out of their door and start laughing at me. Even though I had red boots on, too, I still didn't know where my clothes went.

I came up to the door and knocked twice. Andy answered the door and started laughing. "Toby, w-where are your clothes?" he stuttered, still laughing. He motioned for me to come in. "Oh, come in and get your spares." Andy turned from the doorway, and I hurried in after him.

After I put on my spare clothes, Andy and I played video games the whole time until it was time for bed. When Andy was jumping into his bed and me into his spare bed, he laughed. "You know," he started, "there's something _different_ about you, but I just don't know what it is."

I raised one of my eyebrows. "Oh, really?"

Andy nodded. "Really, really." He turned under his blankets to face the opposite way. "Night, Toby."

I lay my head on the pillow. "Night," I answered. I stared up at the ceiling. _What's different about me?_ I shook my head and fell asleep.

...

I woke up to the sound of someone flipping a pancake on a fryer pan. I opened my eyes, got up, and sat on the edge of the bed. Finally, I looked up and stared confusingly ahead. "What?" I muttered unbelievingly under my breath. Andy was faintly snoring in his bed. I went over and shook him awake. "Andy. Andy, wake up!"

Andy looked up sleepily. "What?" he grumbled.

"I can hear someone flipping pancakes… Am I going crazy?" I asked.

"Impossible," he murmured, turning the other way.

It was quiet for a moment, and then it sounded again. "There it is again!" I exclaimed in a whisper, shaking Andy again. He whipped the covers off and sat up on the edge of the bed, shaking his head awake.

"Dude…" he said, looking up at me. "You are hearing things."

I shook my head angrily. "No!" I growled. "Come with me downstairs. How much do you wanna bet that your parents are making pancakes?"

Andy stood up and looked me in the eyes. "My parents haven't made pancakes in _months."_

"Just come with me!" I grumbled. I pulled him with me out the room and we looked out over the overhang of the stairs. Andy's Mom was standing in the kitchen flipping pancakes.

Andy looked over at me astonishingly. "That is impossible!" he exclaimed. "I couldn't hear it, so why did you?"

I shook my head slowly. "I have no clue…to tell you the truth"

He clapped his hands once and pointed at me. "I know why I thought you were different! You have _super hearing!"_


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Super hearing?" I wondered. "Are you nuts? There's no way!"

Andy nodded as we began to walk back to his room. "I'm sure of it. There's no way you could've heard that unless you have super hearing."

I sighed unbelievingly. "That's really weird."

He sat down on the edge of his bed. "What else can you hear?"

I concentrated hard as I listened closely. I heard someone mowing their lawn and Andy's brother shaving in his room in the basement. "I can hear Robbie shaving and someone mowing the lawn."

"My Dad should be mowing the lawn out back and…" He cut off. "Robbie should be shaving…"

I nodded. "That's what I hear."

He shook his head. "No, that won't work. I can hear my Dad mowing the lawn. Try and listen harder. Try to hear what my neighbors are doing."

My mouth hung open. "You can't be serious?" When he nodded, I continued. "They live, like, ten minutes away!"

"Exactly my point," Andy pointed out.

I tried harder to hear what was happening ten minutes away. I heard yelling and screaming; not the bad kind, but the kind of yelling someone does when they're watching sports. "They're watching sports, or something," I finished.

"Oh, my God!" Andy laughed, clasping his hands over his mouth. "You _definitely_ have super hearing!"

"I can't believe it!" I exclaimed. I laughed unbelievingly.

"Andy! Toby! Time for breakfast!" Andy's Mom yelled at us.

"Coming!" we said at the same time. As we ambled down the stairs, I watched as Andy's Mom put three pancakes on our plates and poured orange juice in glasses.

I sat down at the table and Andy sat next to me. We ate our breakfast in silence, and when we were finished, we went back upstairs. I stood in the doorway, listening.

"Hey, Toby," Andy muttered. "Would you move, please?"

I put my hand up. "Hold on, I hear something weird."

Andy's eyes widened and he leaned in closer to my ear. "What is it?"

I shook my head. "I don't know, but it kind of sounds like…" I broke off as a siren sounded far away. "There it is again!"

"What?"

My eyes flew open from concentrating. "Is it supposed to storm today?"

He raised his eyebrow. "Yeah, I think so. Why?"

The siren sounded again, louder now. Then, thunder rumbled directly overhead and it shook the whole house. I hurried over to the window and pulled up the blinds. It was pouring intensely and lightning flashed along with it. I heard the noise again. It sounded like a freight train was coming. I looked into the sky and saw pure black clouds overhead.

Andy came up next to me. "What is that noise?" he asked. "It kind of sounds like a train—"

"TORNADO!" I shouted. I pointed into the sky as a funnel began to form about ten miles away in the distance.

"What?" he panicked. Andy began scurrying around the room, trying to choose what he could salvage from the coming tornado.

Andy's parents flew into his room, their eyes wide with terror. "Andy! Toby! Quick! Into Robbie's room!"

I hurriedly followed them out the door with Andy close behind. As we entered the basement and hurried down the stairs, I gasped. "My jacket!" I ran back up the stairs past Andy, the sound of the tornado getting awfully closer.

"Toby, no!" Andy shouted as he tried to grab the back of my shirt.

"Andy! Come back here!" Andy's Dad screamed.

Andy gave me a look that said, 'Hurry back', and he hesitantly went back down the stairs and closed the door behind him. The house was beginning to shake as the tornado rumbled closer.

I ran back up the stairs leading to Andy's room, and at that same moment, the tornado lifted the roof off of the house. "Ahh!" I screamed as I began to feel my feet lift off the ground. I scrambled towards Andy's room and grabbed my jacket off the bed.

I tried to hold on to the railing to get back down the stairs, but it dislodged itself from the wall and took me with it. As I flew up into the air, a sharp piece of wood flew by my head. I then realized that it was a tree.

I gazed up into the sky in front of me to see a large funnel cloud, getting ready to touch the ground. I covered my eyes with my hands as I flipped over and over in the air.

Suddenly, the sound stopped and the tornado disappeared. I thought fast. _If the tornado is gone, then I'll fall!_ I looked down as I began to ascend rapidly down to the Earth.

"Ahh!" I shouted, covering my eyes again. I braced myself for the impact, but none came. I terrifyingly took my hands away from my eyes slowly and looked down.

I saw that the bottoms of my boots were on fire. I then noticed that they weren't on fire, but they were rockets! And they were allowing me to fly. I then saw the jacket in my hand. I looked up with a surprised-confused-terrified look. I smacked my face, thinking I was dreaming. Then the rockets went haywire. I flew to the right sharply, screaming. "Ahh!"

I looked behind me and saw a building. I whammed into the home, my boots facing down. I looked down with terror. "Uh-oh…" The rockets reactivated and I flew upward into the clearing sky.

I then flew to the left, flying into a chicken coop, the chickens flying every which way, trying to escape. When I flew out of the coop, I had at least ten feathers in my mouth and even more all over me. I spat them out and looked at my surroundings as I began to get the hang of flying.

I was close to the SLA! I saw it on top of the hill and began to land. But then, I realized I didn't know how to land. I sort of landed, sort of whammed into the ground. I got up on my feet and put a hand to my head. It was throbbing wildly. I put on my jacket and ran up to the front door, bursting through the entrance. There was no one in sight, and they were probably all home safe and sound. I ran down the hallway and burst into the science lab. Ed looked up and I could've sworn he jumped.

"Toby!" he exclaimed with surprise. "What are you doing here? You should be home, being safe from this storm."

I gasped for breath, panting with excitement and shock. "I…flew…in a …tornado…" I panted heavily.

"You flew in a tornado?" Ed asked. "There was a tornado?"

I nodded, beginning to get my breath back. I swallowed quickly. "There was a tornado, yes." I looked up. "I got pulled into it, and I…I…" I looked at my feet.

"Yes?" Ed pushed.

"I fell down to the ground. But when I looked down, I saw my boots were on fire! Only…they _weren't_ on fire, they were rockets! I can fly, Ed!" I shouted happily. Ed looked at the ground guiltily.

I raised my eyebrow. "What's wrong?"

He looked back up at me. "Toby, that's great. It really is. But, there's something I have to tell you."

I watched as he came up next to me and kneeled on the ground. "I should've told you this when I activated you."

I blinked in confusion. "Activated?"

"Toby, you're not actually a…entirely ordinary boy."

"I-I know!" I stammered in confusion. "I can fly and hear things far away!" Ed sighed and looked away.

"What's wrong with me? Why are you ignoring my questions and excitement?" I asked, still confused.

"Toby," he murmured, looking back at me, "…you're not really Toby."

"That doesn't make any sense!" I exclaimed. "Of course I'm me."

"No, you're not. You're not even a real boy. The real Toby died and you're a robot replica." Ed looked at my chest. "You don't even have a real heart…"

"No… No!" I yelled and began to run out the door.

"Toby, wait!"

I stopped and turned my head halfway around.

"You shouldn't let this bother you," he told me. "Toby, everyone has their own destiny."

"Didn't you just hear yourself say it?" I muttered angrily. "I'm not Toby." I ran out the doors and down the hallway. As I made my way for the main doors, I began to tear up. I couldn't believe it. I was a robot. _That explains why I could hear things far away and fly._ _So much for being normal. _I jumped into the air and flew away towards Andy's house.


	4. Chapter 4

**The next chapter of my fanfic!**

Chapter 4

I sat in the curve of a branch in a tree next to the road. I was looking inside my hands, after I had figured out that if I concentrated hard enough, I could. So, I just that meant that I had x-ray vision, too. "It's true…" I murmured to myself, staring into my hands. I turned my hand around, seeing all the machinery piled into it. "Well…if I'm a robot, then how come I can cry? And be happy? Robots can't have emotions…can they?"

It was nighttime, and I felt guilty for not returning to Andy's house or my own. They were all going to be worried sick about me, if Andy's parents told my parents that I had gone missing after their roof imploded and disappeared.

"Toby! Toby, where are you?"

I jumped at the voice, turning off my x-ray vision. I looked down from the tree to see flashlight beams shining through the weeds in the field. Andy and his parents were walking around, searching for me. Well, at least they cared…unlike _Ed._

I angrily stood up and snapped off a thick branch above my head, grunting with anger. I threw it on the ground below me and growled. I guess I had just figured out I had super strength, too.

"What was that?" Andy's Mom whispered in fear. I could hear her even though she was sort of still far away. The flashlight beams came closer, bobbing every which way, so I figured that they were running towards the noise. The weeds parted and I saw Andy and his Mom and his Dad each holding a flashlight. They pointed them at the branch on the ground. "Where did this come from?" his Mom murmured.

I sat back down on the branch quietly. I really didn't want them to find me. I still wanted to think about what I was just told. _"You're a robot replica…Toby died…you're not really Toby…"_ Ed's voice rang in my head and I grabbed my head to make it stop.

Andy apparently knew that it was a branch and it came from a tree, so he shined his flashlight up into the tree. I drew up my hand to cover my eyes from the light beam, but I still saw the surprise and relief on Andy's face.

"Toby!" he exclaimed when he saw me. "You're alive!"

His parents shined their beams on me as well, and sighed with relief. "Toby, come down here, please," Andy's Dad said.

I jumped down from the branch, trying not to show that it didn't hurt when I did, because I was really high up in that tree. I stumbled a little for effect, because I didn't want them to know it didn't hurt me. "Yeah, obviously," I said as I stood up again.

Andy dropped his flashlight and ran over to me, hugging me. "You have to tell me everything that happened!" He pulled back and stepped back a step, clearing his throat with embarrassment. "But, um…yeah. It's good that you're alive, buddy." Andy's Mom giggled.

I sighed and stepped over to Andy's parents. "Are you still staying at your house?" I asked. "The roof came off when it took me with it."

Andy's mouth opened to say something, probably, 'Oh, my God, the roof took you with it?' but his Mom beat him to the talking. 'We're staying at a tornado shelter close to Mt. Sofia," she told me, putting her hand around my shoulders. "But we're just glad we found you. Your mother was worried sick about you."

I shrugged her hand off, but apparently she didn't notice. "Yeah." I fake laughed and looked at the ground. "I would be, too…" I looked up into the sky and saw that the sky was covered with clouds, but they weren't normally colored clouds. They were more of a greenish color.

Andy followed my gaze as we began walking towards the shelter. "You see them, too?" he whispered. I nodded and he continued again, looking at me. "I don't know what's wrong with them, but the police are looking into it." His eyes glowed in the dark as he beamed at me. "But seriously, you have to tell me everything that happened to you."

"I will, but not right now," I said. He looked hurt, so I added, "At the shelter, I will, okay?"

He nodded and we continued towards Mt. Sofia's shelter. I looked up towards the top of Mt. Sofia and noticed that that, too, was covered in those same murky green clouds. "That's odd…" I muttered.

"What is?" Andy asked, looking back over at me.

"The top of Mt. Sofia is shrouded in those strange clouds…" I blinked as I realized something. "Dude, Andy, I don't think those are real clouds."

He blinked at me in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Clouds shouldn't be that low. Mt. Sofia _is_ really high up, but not _that_ high. Just the other day I was looking at it, and the clouds were _way_ above it."

Andy nodded slowly, having it all sink in. "I was actually thinking the same thing," he answered. "I think those are pollution clouds, actually."

"Pollution?" I echoed.

Andy's Mom shushed us as we came up to the building. "Be quiet now. You don't want everyone freaking out."

We entered the building, all turning off the flashlights. I looked around and saw that (literally) everyone in Metro City was in there (except maybe a couple people). _I wonder if my parents are here?_ I blinked and looked at the ground. _No, not _my_ parents… Robots don't have parents._

Andy and his parents led me over to an area bordered off with red tape that said, 'Devon Family' in white on the tape. There were five beds for all of us. Robbie was already in one, sleeping and snoring loudly. I guessed that Andy's parents told the people that ran this place that there were five people in the family so I could have a bed, too.

Andy's Dad put his hands on my shoulders. "We've already contacted your parents. Your mother said that she had to go to a meeting and wouldn't be back until the day after tomorrow, and your father is out on a business trip. He won't be back until the same day, either, so you're going to have to stay here."

I nodded and he walked off with Andy's Mom. Andy and I sat on the beds as news bulletin music rang out all around us. The conversations in the building died down and the TV was the only thing you could hear. I watched as Jeff Cavanaugh came on the TV screen.

"This is Jeff Cavanaugh reporting to you live from in front of the Metro City Hall Shelter. Just looking at some of the damage this tornado has left just leaves me breathless. Even our studio is beyond repair." He chuckled a little, and then the screen turned to Mt. Sofia. "This has just been reported. The scientists at SLA have just confirmed that our city is, in fact, polluted beyond belief. The police are working with the SLA to figure out a solution for all of this. The toxic clouds will be predicted to touch down to the ground and cover our air we breathe in two days time. We will report back to you at the later."

The conversations began again, some people wailing and some people crying and shouting. It hurt my head just to try and figure out what some of the people were saying. I turned around to find Andy right in my face. "Oh—hi," I said, surprised.

"Toby, you know that if you'd never heard that tornado coming, we wouldn't be here. We wouldn't be alive, you know?" He gazed into my eyes.

I nodded and looked away nervously.

"Why can you suddenly hear things far away?" he asked. "I really don't understand. And ever since Friday, you've been acting strangely. And ever since the tornado happened, you've been acting even more strange."

I looked back up at Andy, concern on his face. I motioned for him to sit closer to me. He obliged and sat closer to me, leaning in close to my face with his ear. "What?"

"You promise not to tell anyone?" I asked, and he leaned out and looked me in the eye.

He nodded and held up his right hand. "I swear I won't tell anyone, Toby."

I sighed and spilled it out. "When I got picked up from the tornado…I almost died, and…" I sighed, looking into Andy's eyes. "Suddenly, the tornado just went 'poof', and it disappeared. I was falling to the Earth, and then I was bracing for the impact, but it never came. I looked down and saw that my boots," I said, pointing to my boots, "were on fire…only they weren't on fire, cause I was hovering in the air."

"Wait," Andy cut me off. "So you're saying that not only can you hear things far away, but you can fly, too?"

"Shh!" I hissed, holding my finger to my mouth. "Be quiet!"

He hesitated and watched me as I began to speak again. "I can fly, hear things far away, and I have…x-ray vision and super strength now, too."

"Are you like one of those people in the old myths and legends that, like, get bitten by some radioactive animal, or something, and then gets superpowers?" Andy asked.

"No, but listen, Andy—"

"I don't get it, though!" he interrupted, throwing his hands in the air. People looked back at us, and he quieted down. Robbie snorted a little bit, and we held our breath as we thought he was going to wake up, but he didn't, and he continued snoring.

"What don't you get about it?" I whispered.

He scoffed at me. "How can you do all these things if you're not a superhero?" He looked at me with a very confused look. "I've known you since _kindergarten,_ and you've never done any of _this,"_ he paused, sweeping out his arm to indicate something big, "before!"

I sighed and looked down and away. "Andy…I'm not the real…" I paused, squeezing the bridge of my nose, squinting my eyes shut. "I'm not…" I stopped again and looked back up at Andy, sighing once more. "I'm not Toby."

He raised an eyebrow, clearly confused at what I just told him. "What? Of course you're Toby."

I shook my head. "No, Andy, you don't understand, and clearly…I don't either!" People looked back at us again, and then I lowered my voice. "The real Toby you knew…died, and I'm a… I'm a robot replica of Toby…" I looked down at my feet, and looked back up at Andy.

He laughed. "Good one, Toby! That made my day."

I stood up angrily, my fists balling up at my sides. "No, Andy. I'm serious. I'm not Toby. The real Toby died, but I don't know when. I'm a robot!" I whisper-hissed the last word.

Andy stared at me with wide eyes, letting it all sink in. "When did you… When did you find out?"

"After I learned I could fly, I went to the SLA and Ed told me I was a robot." I sat back down on the bed, leaning on my legs with my arms. "I didn't want to believe it, but he made me believe it…"

I felt the bed shift beside me, and I looked up to see Andy had stood up. And then I heard yelling outside the building. Not the bad kind, but the kind of joyous yelling. Everyone in the shelter got up and ran outside to see what all the commotion was about. Amazingly, Robbie was still asleep in the bed next to us.

Andy followed the group and I followed Andy outside. I saw a cheering group of people gathered around the SLA scientists and some of the police officers, with maybe a dozen or so reporters, too. "What's going on?" I asked Andy.

He shrugged half-heartedly. "Beats me."

I sighed and turned to listen to the conversation that began. "Yes, we have a solution to the pollution problem," Ed explained to the reporters and citizens, but mostly just to the reporters. "We have come up with a plan."

"What is this plan?" a reporter asked that I recognized as the lady from the seven o'clock news, Tracy Roberts.

"We are going to soar to new heights."

Murmurs of confusion swept through the crowd and I blinked with confusion. _Soar to new heights? I don't get it. What's he planning?_

"What do you mean?" someone else from the group asked.

Ed answered with the craziest answer I could ever think was the craziest answer someone could ever give. "We will make Metro City fly into the sky." Conversations struck through the crowd at this statement, but he continued talking. "We are going to dig tunnels under the city, which will take about two days time, enough time to allow us to get everything situated before the cloud gets here. Then, we are going to attach hover boxes—about one hundred of them—to the bottom of the city to make it fly."

More questions broke out among the people gathered, mostly the reporters, though. I looked over at Andy, but I saw that he wasn't there. He was parting his way through the crowd towards the building. I followed him, and brushed by Robbie on my way in. He was finally awake, I guessed, wanting to see what was going on. "Andy, wait!" I shouted over the loudness outside.

Andy turned his head a little to see who It was while he sat down on his bed. "What do _you_ want?"

I sat down next to him, my mouth wide open. "What the—? I didn't do anything to you! I didn't choose this path for me!" I paused and thought for a split-second. "I didn't choose whether or not I wanted to be here. I didn't want the real Toby to die for me."

He glared at me. "I _know_ you didn't do anything wrong, but I just wish I could know what happened to Toby…" He looked at the ground. "We were friends since—"

"Kindergarten," I finished for him, and he looked up at me. "I know. I know everything the real Toby knew. I'm still Toby," I reassured him, "but yet…I'm not really him, huh?"

Andy shook his head. "No. You're _not_ Toby. You may look like him, sound like him, and act like him, but you're not him." He sighed. "Now I know what really was different about you. You're a robot… I don't even know if I still want to call you Toby!"

I looked out the door to the building. The crowd was still there, cheering for the SLA and the police. I sighed, turning back to Andy. "Think of a name, then," I told him.

"I don't even know if everyone will…" He broke off, looking at me.

"Go ahead," I said, throwing my hands in the air and bringing them back down again. "Go ahead. Tell everyone what I am." I suddenly found that the floor was very interesting. "It doesn't matter anymore…" I felt a hand resting on my shoulder and looked up to see Andy smiling at me.

"I won't tell anyone that you're a robot." He looked over at a poster that was covered with stars and planets. "And I think I know what to call you."

"Well?" I asked Andy. "What is it?"

He turned to me and stood up, his hand still on my shoulder. "You may not be Toby, but you're still my best friend…Astro."

I nodded and smiled. "Astro, huh? Yeah…I like it. It's modern; a little space-age." We laughed together and looked up as the people of Metro City began filing in the doors.

"You won't say anything?" I asked him, standing up, placing my hand on his shoulder.

"I promise," he said, smiling.

As everyone got situated in the building, it was time for me to sleep (but I didn't even know if robots could do that, but apparently I can, because I did it the night before). Andy and I crawled into our makeshift beds and fell asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The next day went by smoothly. Everyone got their breakfast from the shelter's cafeteria, but I barely ate anything. I didn't know if robots should eat human food or drink human drinks (but apparently I can, because I did it two days ago), and I suddenly lost my appetite. As the afternoon came around, Andy and I went for a walk outside. "So you're seriously cool with me being a robot and all?" I asked him, my hands in my pockets.

Andy turned his head to me. "Sure, though I just would like to see if you're telling me the truth…that you can fly, and all that…"

I stopped walking and looked around, taking my hands out of my pockets. No one was in sight and I sighed. I turned back to my friend. "Okay, okay, but only once. I don't want people to notice, because…yeah."

Andy nodded with excitement as I took a deep breath. I took a running jump and my rockets kicked on. I took off into the sky and turned to the right, coming to a hover in front of Andy. I waited, expecting a compliment of some sort.

"Whoa!" Andy exclaimed in wonder. "Well…" he continued, running his fingers through his messy brown hair. "I already know you can hear far away, but is the super strength and x-ray vision real?"

I sighed and rolled my eyes, chuckling a bit. "Andy, sometimes, I swear." I looked over next to us and saw a rundown old car just rusting there. I landed on the ground and ran over to the car, Andy eagerly following me. I bent over and placed my hands under the car, picking it up with ease and turning back around to face an awe-struck Andy.

"Wow!" he breathed. And then, there was a sudden twinkle in his eye. "Pick up a tree out of the ground and throw it!"

I rolled my eyes and placed the car back on the ground, turning to a tree next to the car. I placed my hands around the trunk and lifted it, yanking the tree from the ground, and I chucked it at least three hundred feet away in the field.

"Awesome!" Andy exclaimed. "Dude, that was so cool!"

I smiled, my smile curving to the right a little. Then, I paused, thinking. Andy seemed to sense my discomfort, because he asked, "What's wrong, Astro?"

I laughed a little at the name, trying to get used to it. "I-it's nothing. I shouldn't even be thinking about that."

"Come on, tell me."

I sighed and turned to look at him. "It's just… When Ed told me I was a robot, he also mentioned something about me not having a real heart." I looked down at my jacket. When I looked back up, Andy was standing right in front of me.

"Do you want to know? Is that it? You want to know if you have a real heart, right?" Andy asked.

I nodded, unzipping my jacket, and lifting my shirt. I placed my hand on my chest where my heart was supposed to be, but I couldn't feel a beat. I sighed again, lowering my shirt. "I don't even know how I'm living."

Andy zoned a bit, and then he said, "Well, electronics have batteries, right? You could have batteries."

I blinked. "You could be right… But where would they be?" I looked down at myself, lifting up my feet, looking under my arms, but there was nothing.

"Are you sure you don't have a heartbeat?" he asked impatiently.

I nodded, but he stepped forward, yanking my shirt up and pressing down where the heart was supposed to be. Just then, Andy stepped back in awe, and I looked down, grabbing a hold of my shirt. Right where Andy had pressed was a compartment door that had opened and revealed a blue ball of energy circling around and around in my chest.

_That's my heart?_ I wondered, still staring at it.

"Oh, cool!" Andy breathed. I looked up at his face to see it was bathed in the same blue light as what was in my chest.

"W-what is it?" I asked, even though I thought I already knew.

Andy leaned in closer, his face more blue now. "It looks like…we found your heart, Astro."

I glanced over at the rusty car, and closed the compartment, pulling down my shirt. "I _bet_ I could get that car started."

Andy snorted. "That car's been there for fifty years! It's an old Toyota Camry. There's no way it's gonna start."

I walked over to it and jumped in through the open window into the driver's seat. Andy came up to watch me through the window. I thought for a moment. _Okay, how do I do this? _I asked myself. I concentrated really hard and held out my finger to the ignition.

I then heard a faint crackling noise and I opened my eyes to see the blue energy from my 'heart' came out through my finger and disappeared into the ignition.

Andy stared, awe-struck at what was happening. I heard a rumbling noise as the car engine sputtered. It started up and I revved the engine. I looked at Andy with awe.

"I can't believe it," he whispered. "It's true. You _are_ a robot."

I nodded slowly for effect. "Yeah. That's what I said."

"Okay, then, smarty-pants. Try out the x-ray vision," Andy said. "Tell me what's wrong with the engine. I should know, because my Dad and I checked it out a couple of days ago."

I concentrated and stared in front of me into the engine. It was all rusted up, but there was something missing… "It's missing a screw cap," I concluded.

"Ha!" Andy clapped his hands together. "That's so cool! You _do_ have x-ray vision!"

I laughed with Andy as the engine in the car turned off. As it got quiet, I heard a rumbling noise underneath the soil. "What's that?" I asked as I scrambled out the window.

"What's what?"

"That rumbling noise." I concentrated harder and a picture formed in my mind. The SLA was already beginning their tunnel expedition underground. "Oh, it's just the SLA."

Andy sat down in the grass and I sat next to him. "They're starting?"

I nodded and looked up into the sky. The clouds were closer than they were yesterday, but there was still some time before they covered metro City. "They need to hurry, though."

Andy nodded and stood up. "Come on. We better head back to the shelter." I followed Andy as we headed back to the shelter.

As we entered the shelter, the news came on as the reporters began reporting what the SLA had done so far. "The SLA has dug about seventy tunnels that all connect to each other underground. Tomorrow, before the pollution reaches us, they will attach the hover boxes to the bottom of the city."

After Andy, Andy's family, and I ate dinner that day, I thought for a minute. _I am the first ever robot made to act like a normal person! In about one hundred years, there's probably going to be way more robots that are better than me. _I laid myself onto my bed and fell asleep.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"You will feel a slight movement, just like if you're going up an elevator."

A crowd of people with gas masks on shouted in excitement as Ed switched on a huge switch. The news report had told people to stay in their homes or workplaces and wear gas masks. If you had any animals or pets, then they would be fine. The poisonous gas cloud would only poison the humans.

Metro City jolted up and began to move into the sky. I watched as the green clouds moved ever so closer, because we were traveling into the sky. As we entered through the cloud, everyone was holding their breaths even though we all had gas masks on. I saw lights shining through the top of the cloud and I got excited.

"I see the sun!" someone shouted. Everyone began to shout and squeal in excitement.

I watched as the light got brighter and finally, we broke through the pollution cloud. We floated up the sky a couple more miles, and then the city stopped moving. "We're here!" I exclaimed.

"Yes!" Andy shouted. He looked at me and laughed, giving me a high-five. "I didn't think it could be done, but…it's done!"

I nodded and looked up. The sun was shining bright and the air was cleaner up here. I took off my gas mask and took a deep breath. Everyone else did the same, taking big gulps of fresh air.

"Now everyone stay calm," Ed shouted above all the clamor, "but the hover boxes will only last for eight months. That gives us enough time to build new hover boxes that will last forever."

The people of Metro City ambled back into the shelter to grab their things and return to their homes. I said goodbye to Andy and his family, and began heading for my house.

As I walked down the 5th Avenue, I smiled. I ran and jumped into the sky and flew around towards Mt. Sofia. _It can't hurt to try, right? If I have super strength, I can do anything._ Mt. Sofia was in front of me now. I flew faster and flew into the side of the mountain. I drilled my way through the mountain, curving down and back up, exploding through the very top of the mountain, the snow from the top falling around me. "Wow, this is so cool!"

I flew away towards my house with happiness on my face. _I can drill my way through solid rock!_ I laughed mentally and landed behind a tree in my front lawn.

I peeked around the tree and saw my house was still in one piece amazingly after the tornado had raced through. My Dad was getting ready for work, and my Mom was saying goodbye. I walked out from behind the tree and ran up to my house. I waved to my Dad as he backed out of the driveway. He waved back as I ran in the garage and through the door.

"Toby!" Mom exclaimed with surprise when she saw me. She hurried up to me and hugged me tightly. "Thank goodness you're safe!" I hugged her back and we had a moment, one that I'll never forget. I hadn't seen my Mom since… _No, she's not my mother… She's Toby's Mom. Not mine. I don't live here…_ I stepped back from Toby's Mom and looked down at the ground.

She looked at me confused for a moment, but then released her confusion. "Toby, when you left for Andy's house, there was this hit-and-run that happened." She walked into the living room. "I taped it for you. I know you like to be a little detective."

I walked in after her as she pressed play. _A hit-and-run?_ I wondered. _Could that be…?_ The news bulletin music began to play and it blared in my face. Toby's Mom turned it down, so it didn't blow my eardrums (but I'm not even sure I have any).

"This is Jeff Cavanaugh coming to you live from the outskirts of Metro City. A hit-and-run was just witnessed on the corner of 5th Avenue and Rochester Street. A witness had reported seeing a yellow Dodge Viper hit a pedestrian on the corner of 5th Avenue and Rochester. The witness was driving by, seeing a young man about the age of fourteen walking down the road. Here he is." Jeff put the microphone up to the mouth of a middle-aged man.

"I went by the boy, and then I heard a very fast car approaching me. And so I looked out my rear-view mirror and I saw the car hit the boy and continue driving, but when the driver went by me, I couldn't make out the license plate."

Jeff chuckled. "Well, luckily, we found a note on the boy's chest." He opened it and began to read it aloud. "It says, 'Hello, Jeff Cavanaugh. I know it's you doing this report, so this note is for you. Please do not show my body on camera or say my name, if you know what it is. If you want to know the license plate of the car that hit me, it was: DP21087. Thank you… Anonymous'."

Toby's Mom paused the recording and turned to face me. "Well, what do you think about that? I'm just so lucky it wasn't you."

I studied the surroundings behind the reporter. There was a ditch full of weeds and I saw the tip of a something red sticking out of it. I looked down at my boots and then looked back at the picture. My eyes widened with shock. That was _my_ red boot! Suddenly, a scene unfolded in my head. I saw a yellow sports car come up behind me and smack into me, causing me to fly into a ditch and I put a note on my chest and died…

I then realized that that wasn't me. It was _the real Toby!_

"Toby?" Toby's Mom asked. "What's wrong, honey?"

I looked at the ground by my feet, my hands clenching into fists. _No, don't call me that!_ I wanted to scream. _I'm not your real son! He died in that right there!_ I breathed in a quick breath. "Nothing, nothing…" I looked back up at Toby's Mom. "It's nothing. Never mind."

Toby's Mom stared at me for a moment longer, and then turned off the TV. She walked away into the kitchen and I sat down on the couch behind me, thinking. _A car hit Toby, and he _knew_ he was gong to die by the looks of that note he had!_ I angrily stood up and stormed out the door.

"Toby, where are you going?" Toby's Mom yelled after me.

"The SLA!" I yelled after her when I shut the door. I ran into the front yard and jumped into the air, flying towards the SLA angrily. _He should've told me how the real Toby died! He should've told me!_ I landed on the steps, noises of drills and fusing tools going off.

I stormed inside, throwing the door open. All of the workers that usually were there stopped what they were doing and stared at me in shock. I stormed towards the science lab and threw open those doors, but there was no one in sight. As I returned back to the main lobby, the workers stopped what they were doing again, and stared at me once more.

"Where's Ed?" I asked angrily. The workers didn't answer me. They just kept staring at me in shock. "Where. Is. Ed?" I asked again. They pointed down a hallway opposite the way I always went (or Toby always went). I headed down the hall and into the door at the end of the hall. Ed was fusing a steel pipe into another one. He looked up from his work as I entered the semi-small room. "Toby!"

"No, shut up! I'm not Toby! My name's Astro now." I pointed at him and narrowed my eyes. "You should've told me how Toby died."

"I tried to make you understand—"

"No, you didn't!" I screamed. "All you did was tell me I was a robot copy of Toby. You never told me anything about how he died!" I huffed with impatience and crossed my arms. "Well, I know now how he died, so start talking."

He sighed. "Toby—"

"Astro!" I shouted. "My name is _Astro_ now!"

"Astro… Toby knew he was going to—"

"To die. Yeah, I know he knew he was going to die." I sighed, pressing my fingers to the bridge of my nose. "But why? Why did he _have _to die?"

"Because, in order for us to activate you, Astro, there only had to be one copy." Ed got up from his chair and stood next to me. "It was so nothing bad would happen to Metro City."

"What do you mean 'so nothing bad would happen'?" I asked. "Nothing bad would've happened! I could've been his—his—his twin, or something!"

He looked away. "No, you couldn't have. If there were two copies of the same person, then the one that was man-made would malfunction and become evil, and since you're a robot, and you have mass-destructive weapons, it would've gone very _badly."_

I sighed, looking down at the ground. "Andy was pretty heartbroken when I told him…" I looked back up at Ed, who's eyes were suddenly popping out of his skull, burning with anger.

"You _told_ someone?" he yelled. He put his hands on the side of his head, and then brought them back down to his sides. "Astro, that's bad, you know that, right?"

I shook my head slowly, slightly taken aback by his sudden outburst. "No… Why?"

"He will tell everyone, and then everyone will want you to do things for them! That will mess up the true purpose you were made for!"

"What _is_ the exact reason why I was made?" I yelled. "Besides, they're going to find out sooner or later!"

"Yeah, cause your _buddy_ will tell em all!" Ed shouted.

I clamped the bridge of my nose once more, squinting my eyes shut. I opened them back up and looked at Ed. "When there's trouble, I gotta help…you know? Isn't that what I was made for?"

He didn't answer.

"Isn't that what I'm programmed to do? Help people?"

Ed nodded after a few more moments. "Yes…but there's not always going to be trouble, Astro. Right now, it's peaceful. Nothing's happening."

"Yeah, right _now,"_ I said. Sighing, I walked out the door, but stopped in the doorway, ignoring the faces peering down at me from the end of the hallway. "Andy wouldn't tell anybody. He promised he wouldn't." I ran down the hallway and through the lobby, running through the exit, not caring whether Ed heard me or not. I jumped into the air and flew towards Andy's house to tell him what happened to his best friend.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Andy!" I knocked on the door to his house a few more times. "Andy, are you there? Please answer the door."

A few moments passed, and then I heard a few footsteps inside the house, and Andy opened the door. "Tob—Astro!" he exclaimed in surprise, almost forgetting that I wasn't Toby. "What are you doing here?"

I stepped inside and Andy closed the door behind me, turning to me with his arms crossed. I sighed. "Andy… I came to tell you how Toby died."

His arms dropped to his sides and he looked at the ground. When he looked back up, I saw relief hidden in his eyes. "Come on. Let's go up to my room." He ran up his steps and I followed him.

"Andy? Who's at the door, honey?" Andy's Mom called after him.

"As—Toby," he answered, almost calling me Astro to his Mom. We entered Andy's room, and he closed the door behind him, turning to me. "Okay. How did Toby…die?"

I stared at him for a minute. His face was strained, as if he was trying not to cry, and his eyes were sad. "He… There was a news bulletin on…the day I was…activated," I began, looking at the ground, using my hands for motion. "It was also the day Toby died… I watched the news, and they said that some kid got hit by a car…and he died…" I looked back up at Andy to see some tears forming in his eyes. "A-are you okay?"

He nodded and sniffled, looking away, wiping his tears on his sleeve, crossing his arms. "Just…continue."

I hesitated, but began again. "Toby knew he was going to die, because the day of his death, they found a note on his body… He told them not to tell anyone he was dead, because… Apparently, he knew about me…the robot." I glanced over at Andy, who sniffled again, wiping his nose on his sleeve.

"So…he knew he was going to…die?" Andy asked, looking up at me. I nodded, and he looked back at the floor. "He didn't want anyone to know."

It wasn't a question. I shook my head, and he sniffled again, looking back up at me. "Thank you, Astro… For this."

I nodded and placed my hand on his shoulder. "Your welcome, Andy. And you know, if you ever need anything…I'm always here for you, okay?" He nodded, and I opened his bedroom door. "I should get going now." Without another word, I left his room, ran down the stairs, and out his front door. As I jumped into the air, I looked back, seeing Andy watching me from his front window.

...

I landed on my steps to my house, and opened the door. Right as I took a step inside, Toby's Mom slid in my way. "Yes, Mom?"

She had her arms crossed, and there was a look of concern upon her face. "Toby," she began, eyeing me with those bullets of hers, "where'd you get those rocket boots?"

I flinched. "Uh…" I stuttered, straining to find certain words. "T-the Internet?"

Toby's Mom shook her head and began to tap her foot. "Come on, Toby. I know you didn't get them from the Internet."

I hesitated. _She saw me flying? She must have, otherwise she wouldn't have asked me about them._ "The SLA," I told her. It wasn't exactly lying. I was telling the sort of half-truth.

Toby's Mom nodded slowly. "Okay…" she said slowly. She looked at me for a moment with suspicious cooked into her pupils, and then shrugged it off, heading for the living room. I sighed with relief.

_She almost figured out I was a robot and not her real son,_ I thought as I headed into the living room after her. _She probably would have thought that _I_ had something to do with her son's death, and not that Viper… I need to be more careful._ As I entered the living room, Toby's Mom looked up at me for a second, and then continued to watch her soap opera that she always watched. "Why do you watch those things, Mom?" I asked her, and she looked up at me again. "I'll never get them."

She smiled, but turned back to her show. "Of course you won't, Toby," she said. "You're a boy, and I'm a woman."

I rolled my eyes and headed into the kitchen to get something to drink. I didn't really know if robots should drink water, because they could short-circuit or something, but I decided to try it anyway. I mean, if I could drink orange juice, then water would be fine, right? I poured some water in a glass and took a hesitant sip, bracing myself for some short-circuit, but none ever came, so I just drank the whole thing.

I ran up my stairs and into my room, thinking. _Toby's Mom almost found out today. What would happen if they knew?_ I looked out the window at the birds flying through the air. _Would they accept me as their son? Or would they throw me out like an old battery?_ From the window, it didn't look at all like Metro City was flying in the sky. It still looked like it was on the surface of the Earth.

I took one last look out the window at the setting sun and fell asleep.

...

"Astro."

A voice rang in my head. "Mmph," I grumbled sleepily.

"Astro, wake up!"

The voice sounded again, but I thought it was my imagination, so I just grumbled again. "Mmph." I was suddenly shaking violently back and forth. My eyes flew open, blinking into Andy's blue eyes. "Ahh!" I screamed, leaping up out of my bed, pointing at my friend. "What the heck are you doing in my room?"

He laughed. "Calm down, dude," he said, his eyes still dancing with humor. He pointed towards my window. "You should let some light in here, don't you think?"

I hesitated, stepping slowly towards the window while keeping an eye on him. "I want to ask how you got in my room, let alone my _house,"_ I said, "but then again, I don't want to."

He motioned his hand towards my window, still covered by my shades. I dragged my eyes off of him for a moment, and let up my shades, the light blinding me for a moment.

But not before I heard cheering.

I blinked in confusion and looked down out my window. There were at least fifteen kids from my school down in my back yard cheering at me. I rubbed my eyes with my hands, but still, they were there. I turned angrily back to Andy. "You _told_ people?" I growled at him. "I _trusted_ you! Now _everyone's_ going to know about me!"

"It's not a big deal, is it?" he asked.

"A big deal? A _big deal?"_ I fumed. "Of course it's a big deal!" I grabbed the bridge of my nose. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you." I looked back out my window, opening it. "Just a minute!" I shouted at them.

"Yeah, robot boy!" someone shouted.

I turned back to glare at Andy with death bullets. "Dude!"

"Before you start yelling at me again," Andy started, holding out his hands to try and calm me down, "I just want to tell you that I only told Juno. Then he told everyone else. It wasn't my fault, okay? And besides, you missed school. Look at the clock." He pointed over to my nightstand. I followed his gaze to see it was two-thirty in the afternoon, thirty minutes after we got out of school.

I shrugged and half-laughed. "Well, I guess I'm sort of glad I missed school." I looked towards the window. "My—_Toby's_ Mom almost found out about me yesterday."

"How?" Andy asked, his eyes beaming.

"She saw me fly off."

"Dude!"

I chuckled. "Yeah. I know." I looked back at Andy. "So why are they here?"

He ran his fingers through his hair. "Well, funny story… I told Juno—you know that kid that works with cars?" When I nodded, he continued. "Well, I told him that you could fly and all your other powers, and he told everyone that I was inviting them over to see you do those things." He glanced at me and half-chuckled. "So now they want to see you fly and whatnot."

I growl-sighed. "Andy… I thought I could've trusted you…"

His hands flew into the air. "I'm sorry, okay? Could you just…do this one thing for me?" He paused and looked me in the eyes. "For Toby?"

I sighed again. "Fine," I answered. Andy's eyes shone in the afternoon light shining through my one window. I still had to open up my other one. "But seriously, how'd you get in here?"

He laughed. "Oh, yeah, that." He threw his hand into his pocket and brought out my house key. "I kinda stole it from your locker and used it to get in." He half-laughed. "And your parents are out on a trip. There was a note on the fridge that said they will be back in one hour from now."

I rolled my eyes and grabbed the key from his hand. "You're gonna get some serious punishment when I'm done." Andy smiled.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

As I walked out my back door, everyone in the back yard began cheering loudly. Andy followed me out the door, closing it behind him.

"It's him!"

"The robot boy!"

"Yeah, go, robot boy!"

"Settle down, please!" I shouted above them all. As they quieted down, I continued. "Now, what do you want to see me do first?" I asked, glaring back at Andy. He smiled. He obviously didn't get the death glare.

"Super hearing!"

"No, super strength!"

I sighed and looked back at Andy, who shrugged. "You pick what I do. Obviously these numbskulls can't compromise."

We laughed at my joke, and Andy mouthed, 'See what my family is doing'. I turned back to the crowd. "Okay, what I'm going to do first is see what Andy's family is doing." The crowd quieted down as I went on. "They live thirty minutes away from here, okay?"

"So…your super hearing, then?" a girl asked.

I nodded and began to concentrate. A scene played out in my head as my senses swept through Andy's house. His roof was almost finished, and there was no one in the living room. I looked downstairs to see Robbie snoring loudly on his couch, the TV still on, junk food in one hand. I looked in Andy's parent's room to see his Mom sleeping in bed. I opened my eyes and looked at the crowd, who held their breath.

"Robbie is sleeping with the TV on and his Mom is sleeping as well," I concluded. I looked back at Andy as the crowd cheered for me. 'I could get used to this', I mouthed to him, and he laughed.

I clapped my hands together, and the crowd quieted again. "Okay, now for my super strength demonstration…" I looked around the yard to find something to smash, preferably something big. The group waited in anticipation as I looked around. Then, I saw it. The perfect model: A large boulder.

I looked back at the crowd. "Okay, I'm going to smash this boulder into two pieces." I headed over to the boulder, the group following me, and then, I punched the boulder. It didn't even hurt when I did. At first, nothing happened.

One kid shouted out, "Boo!" I ignored him. Then, the boulder cracked and split in half. The same kid that shouted, "Boo!" shouted, "Never mind!" I giggled at that.

Andy looked at me and I looked at him. He mouthed, 'Fly', and I jumped into the air, my rockets kicking on. I flew around the house a few times, watching the crowd marvel. As I came back around to Andy and hovered in the air, I said, "Next?" with a big smile on my face. The crowd cheered for me and I thought to myself, _I could _really_ get used to this._

"Your x-ray vision?" Andy asked. I nodded, looking around for something to look into. "How about your Dad's car?" Andy asked. I went through the garage when I came in. Your Mom's car isn't there."

I gave him a glare that said, 'Dude? Seriously?' and I flew around to the garage, landing inside it as the crowd came around the corner. I turned on my x-ray vision and named every single part inside the car's engine. The crowd exclaimed with surprise, especially Juno, who was standing right next to me as I did it, telling me what the names are for the parts that I was describing.

I looked back at the crowd, seeing Andy standing in front of the crowd with a huge smile on his face. I think my face matched his, but I wasn't too sure. Then, surprise flitted over his face (or, what I thought was surprise). "Oh!" he said, looking me in the eyes, and then he looked at my chest. "What about the blue thingy?" He pointed to his chest when his heart was.

"The blue thingy—?" I was confused for a minute before I realized that the blue thingy was my 'heart'. "Oh! Okay." I lifted up my shirt, and everyone in the crowd with silent with confusion, as if they were saying, 'Why's he lifting up his shirt?'

I pressed the compartment door as it opened, revealing my blue power source. Everyone in the crowd leaned in closer, their faces turning blue. "Wow…" they all breathed practically the same time.

"What is that?"

"It's so blue!" a girl squealed.

"It's called a blue core," I said, coming up with the name just then. Andy gave me a look that said, 'How'd you know that?' I shook my head slightly and he nodded slightly. I closed the compartment and pulled down my shirt. "It's what keeps me alive…well, running."

"Can you fly for us again?" Juno asked.

I nodded and ran out of the garage, jumping into the air. I floated there for a couple of seconds as I heard something very strange. My eyes closed as a picture formed in my head.

"Astro? What's going on?" Andy called from below.

My eyes opened with terror. "No!" I shouted, flying in the direction of the street. I looked to the right. There came the yellow Dodge Viper, speeding down the road. I looked to the left. Toby's Mom and Dad in the car were coming down the road at a normal speed. Just as I looked to the left again, time seemed to slow down as the Viper swerved into the lane Toby's parents were in.

"No! You can't take them!" I yelled. I thought fast, landing in front of the two cars. Time slowed down again as I looked to the left, seeing Toby's parent's faces with confusion, shock, and terror written on their faces as they saw me land in front of them. Tires squealed next to me on both sides as I put my arms out on both sides of me. The front of the cars hit my hands.

...

My eyes opened slowly as I took in what happened. The Viper sat, wrecked and broken, on my right. The mini-van on my left mimicked the Viper. I looked at my arms, still extended. I took them from the cars and scrambled back a few steps, eyeing the Viper and the driver's seat.

The driver stumbled out of the driver's side, and fell flat to the ground. He scrambled to his feet, looking at the damage to his front, and then looking at me. "You!" he hissed, pointing at me. "What are you? What have you done to my car?"

I shrugged. "Well, I damaged it…and you're going to jail."

"Oh, yeah?" he slurred. "What makes you say that?"

I shrugged again, looking back at the crowd of people in my front yard. One of them had a cell phone open and was talking frantically. "Oh, you know, someone called the police."

He pointed at me again, his arm shaking in anger. "You!" He turned back to his car and reached in the driver's seat. Toby's parents got out of their car and slowly inched away from the doors. Toby's Mom eyed me with confusion and fear. I shook my head and looked back at the man driver. He had come back out of his car with a machine gun. My eyes widened and the group behind me screamed with terror.

I held out my hands, taking steps back. "Now, come on, you don't want to do that."

He laughed like a maniac. "Oh, but I do!" He cocked his gun and began shooting at me. I flew up into the air, dodging the bullets as best as I can. When he started to reload, I flew up to him and knocked the gun out of his hands, and threw him to the ground. "Get… Off!" he growled, trying to push me off.

"Oh, buddy," I began, chuckling at him. "It's gonna take a lot more muscle to get me off of you."

"Why are you so…heavy?" he growled, straining to push me off.

I smiled, looking over at Toby's parents. "Just to you."

Sirens sounded in the distance, coming ever so closer to the scene of the accident. I couldn't let them see me, cause then I'd be all over the news. Right when the police vehicles rounded the corner, I flew up and off of the man, away towards the SLA.

I ran inside, dodging the workers on my way down to the lab. I pushed open the doors and was immediately stumbling back. In front of me in the lab was a huge robot. It looked like a construction crane; only it had one hand on its left, and a concrete mixer on its right. It had a small head with small, beady eyes, and a large frame. It was staring right at me.

"E-Ed?" I yelled across the room.

He appeared from behind the large robot. "Oh! Hello, Astro!" he said, hopping down off of a platform, and hurrying over to me, taking his gloves off. "What brings you here now?"

I looked back at the large robot, and Ed laughed. "That's just Zog. I made him a few days ago." He smiled and looked back at the large robot. "You know the blue core inside of you, or haven't you found that out, yet?"

"The blue thingy?" I asked, pointing at my chest.

"Yes, yes, the blue thingy," Ed answered, looking back at me. "Well, when I made the blue 'thingy', there was some other energy that extracted itself from the blue…thingy." He pointed over at a table. I looked over there and I saw what looked like my blue core, only deep red, sitting in a container.

"Is that…?" I paused, eyeing the red energy.

"It's the red core," Ed finished. "I'm going to put it in Zog after I'm done finishing working on him."

I nodded slowly. "Well…what I came here to tell you was I just turned in the person who killed Toby."

Ed dropped his gloves on the floor, a big smile evident on his face. "You did what?"

I nodded, smiling. "Yeah, I turned him in to the police."

His smile faded. "Astro, you didn't talk to the police, did you?"

I shook my head and his smile returned. "I left before they could even get out of their cars."

He nodded. "Good, now come over here and help me with this, would you?" I followed him back to Zog and I began talking again.

"Well, the thing that happened was I was…um…" I didn't want to tell Ed that I was showing people that I was a robot, so I just said the first thing that came to mind. "I was, um…eating breakfast, and I heard a fast car approaching, so I looked out my window and there it was. The yellow Dodge Viper that killed Toby! Anyway, I looked at the opposite end of the street, and there were…Toby's parents…coming down the street…"

Ed stopped what he was doing and looked at me. "They were going to be in an accident?"

I nodded and continued. "I wasn't thinking clearly. I flew out in front of them, landed between them, and stopped them by putting my hands out at my sides, blocking the accident…" I looked at Ed. His eyes were calm, oddly.

"So Toby's parents know that you're not their son?"

I sighed and looked at the ground. "Not yet, I don't think."

"You should tell them."

I whipped up my head. "What? Are you nuts? I can't! They'll…blame me for Toby's death!"

He shook his head and looked me in the eyes. "No, Astro, they won't. You turned in the man that killed him, all right? It's not your fault."

I studied the ground in front of me. "Y-you're right," I said, a new look in my eyes as I looked back up at Ed. "I'll tell them."

As I headed for home, I thought. _What should I mention first? 'Your son was in that hit-and-run accident. Oh, but don't worry, I turned in the bad guy'?_ I shook my head and landed in the front yard. Toby's Mom's car was still there, but the yellow Viper was already gone. I looked at the ground, seeing the dozens of bullets lying on the ground.

_I wonder where the group of kids went? Probably home._ I ran up to the door, and right when I got up to it, the door opened and Toby's parents stared out at me. I waved at them and half-laughed.


	9. Chapter 9

**Sorry it took me so long to upload. My computer is dumb . Well, here's Chapter 9!**

Chapter 9

Toby's Mom spoke first. "So…" she started, scratching her head, keeping one arm firmly around Toby's Dad. "I guess you're not Toby, huh?"

I shook my head slowly, closing my eyes. When I opened them back up, looking up at the two parents, Toby's Mom's face was planted in Toby's Dad's shoulder. She was weeping loudly. Toby's Dad patted her on the back. "Tell us everything," he said.

I nodded and walked into the house as they stepped aside. Once inside, I sat down on the couch, waiting for them to appear around the corner. Toby's Mom came in first, tears streaking her face. Then, I heard a door close, and then Toby's Dad came around the corner. They both sat on the opposite couch on the other side of the room.

"Where do you want me to start?" I asked them.

"What happened to Toby?" he asked.

I sighed and grabbed the TV remote on the table, hoping that Toby's Mom didn't delete the news broadcast from that day. I found it in the recordings, and played it.

"W-why are y-you playing th-this?" Toby's Mom stammered, clearly still crying extensively.

I paused the recording on the place where I saw the red boot sticking out of the ditch before; why I was so angry. "This? This is what happened to your son," I answered Toby's Mom, standing and moving over to point at the tip of the red boot sticking out of the ditch, and in turn, pointing at mine. _Now, I'm beginning to wonder if they're even real boots…_

"T-Toby d-d-died?" she cried. "No!" She wept harder, covering her face.

"Well, then, where does that leave you?" Toby's Dad asked me. I looked him square in the eye. "What are you?"

"Me?" I pointed to my chest as I sat down again. Once he nodded, I continued. "I'm a robot, made to talk, act, and be like your son, Toby Tenma. My real name is Astro. I…I have all of Toby's memories in my, er…computer brain, if you will. And uh…I don't have a heart."

"What do you mean?" he pondered.

I lifted up my shirt and pressed down on my compartment door, opening the capsule where my blue core was located. It shined in their faces.

"Is that your…battery?" Toby's Dad asked once I closed my compartment and pulled down my shirt. "That's unlike anything I've ever seen before. It's…it's incredible."

I smiled a little. "Yeah, I guess so."

Just then, Toby's Mom began gasping for air, suddenly just stopping crying. Alarmed, I looked over at her. Her hand flung to her throat, and another was on her chest. Toby's Dad was terrorized. Something was wrong.

"What's happening?" I asked. Toby's Dad looked back at me.

"She's having a heart attack!" he shouted. "Quick! Call 911!"

I jumped to my feet and ran for the phone. As soon as I dialed the number—"Hello, 911, what's your emergency?"—Toby's Mom stopped breathing.

She was dead.

…

The funeral was devastating. I couldn't believe that telling her that Toby was dead would cause her to have a heart attack. _It wasn't exactly my fault…_ I thought. _It was mostly Ed's fault… He should be put in jail…not me. Yes, I was in jail. Actually juvie, but that's not important. I can't even believe they let me go to the funeral… It was probably because they knew I was her son… But not really…_

Right after Toby's Mom stopped breathing, Toby's Dad had turned to me. "You!" he raged. "You killed her!"

"No, I didn't!" I said. "It wasn't my fault that the real Toby's dead!"

"Yes, it is!" He had stood up and stomped over to me, putting his face inches from mine. "You get out of my house, or I'll call the police!"

I'd crossed my arms stubbornly over my chest. "This is my house, too."

His face was red. "NOT ANYMORE!" He smacked me in the face. It hurt. It actually hurt.

I looked up at him, my hand on the side of my face. "You…you hit me…!"

He pointed out the door. "GET OUT OF MY HOUSE, YOU MONSTER!"

I slowly got up from the couch and ran out the door, flying into the woods behind my house, hoping to get some peace and quiet. But I guess it didn't last.

About twenty minutes since I flew out of the house, the EMT arrived, along with several police cars. I was watching from the woods, and right as they brought out Toby's Mom on a stretcher, all covered in cloth, Toby's Dad pointed right at me. "He's back there! He killed my wife!"

I tried to fly away, but they shot me down with a tazer—you can't begin to believe how long that tazer had to have been! They had brought me in for questioning.

"Why'd you do it, son?" the investigator asked me, his chubby cheeks glowing red, sweat on his brow.

I crossed my arms and looked away. "I didn't. This whole thing is a mistake."

"If you don't look at me, I'm going to have to assume you're lying."

I looked him square in the eye. "I. DID NOT. DO IT."

He got up from his chair and walked out of the room, and after he left, police came and took me to a cell. It was heavily reinforced with steel grating and there was only a small little bed in the corner. The window high above my head was reinforced with the same steel on the door.

_I could just break out, cause I have super strength,_ I thought, _but then I'd be a fugitive… I don't want to be wanted by the law… I'm just a freaking kid!_ I blinked. _No…no, I'm not a kid. I'm a robot. A death machine. I…_ Tears streaked my face. _I'm unwanted…_

I wept that night before sleeping on the small bed in the corner. Before I fell asleep, I looked towards the window. _If a robot can't have emotions, then why am I crying…?_ I fell asleep then.

…

The next morning, I woke up to the sound of a small mini-door opening and closing. I sat up on the bed and looked towards the door. On the ledge in front of a small sliding door was my breakfast. It looked unappetizing. I wasn't hungry anyway. Good for me, they didn't know I was a robot.

I stood up, my handcuffs and ankle cuffs jingling slightly. They only allowed me a little room to move my feet, so practically I was just shuffling across the floor. In juvie, they didn't allow you to eat in a cafeteria, like in prison. Just because there'd be too much bullying, cause we're all kids. But we did get to go outside for a bit, supervised, of course.

This was my first day in juvie, and I wasn't sure who would be here and how they would treat me.

When it was time to go outside, the guard outside my cell opened my door and yanked me out by my shoulder. He pulled me towards the outer door. As he did that, thoughts were running through my head. _When I get outside, I can escape by flying away! But…then they'd shoot me… But it'll be fine, because I can fly away really fast… But then I'd still be a wanted fugitive…_ I sighed inwardly. _I'll have to plan my escape thoroughly._

The guard pushed me out the open door, shutting it behind me. I stumbled flat on my face on the grass in front of me. I lifted my head and looked around to see all the kids around looking at me, their juvie outfits blending into one another.

The guard by the outside of the door picked me up and shoved me towards the other kids. When I approached them, they didn't move. They didn't even say a thing.

Then, the crowd parted and a boy about my age stepped out of the crowd, along with a girl that looked older than me about one year difference. Her hair was black and she had a couple purple streaks in it. She was pretty.

"So, who are you, noob?" The boy sneered, coming up to me and saying it in my face. When I didn't answer, he continued. "What? Are you too scared to talk? What're in here for, huh? Stealing a lollipop?" The group behind the boy laughed, but the girl didn't even grin. The boy noticed that I was staring at the girl, because then he shoved me to the ground.

"Hey!" the guard shouted. "No pushing!"

"Don't stare at my girl!" he growled at me. "No one, and I mean no one stares at her but me." He pointed to himself and smiled a snide grin.

_I'm gonna hate that grin…_ He walked away, his chin in the air. The girl looked after him, but then turned her attention to me. She blinked at me blankly.

"What?" I asked, looking away. "Are you just going to glare at me, too?"

She shook her head and stepped closer to me. "My name's Cora. What's yours?"

I looked back at her. _Cora…_ "Cora? That's a pretty name."

She smiled, but looked me in the eye. "Thanks, but you never answered my question."

"Astro," I told her. "My name's Astro."

She grinned at me. "Cool. Sounds modern." I nodded, and she continued. "So what're you in here for?"

I shrugged. "Nothing, actually…"

"Got blamed, huh?"

I looked at her, wide-eyed. She giggled.

"Yeah, I did, too. To tell you the truth, Zane's not my boy. And I'm not his girl. I don't even like him." She smiled at me, her blue eyes twinkling.

"What's he in here for?" I asked, staring at her. Gosh, she's so pretty…

"Theft, assault, you know. All the sissy stuff. But what I got blamed for outmatches his entirely. Maybe that's why he picked me as his 'girl'…" She giggled.

I smiled "Yeah, me too… Er, I mean the blaming thing." She giggled again.

"Hey! Pretty boy! What'd I say?" Zane called from across the field.

I looked around Cora to see the boy running up to me. I held out my hand in a 'don't come near me' gesture. "Hey, stop!"

Zane charged at me head-on, but I sidestepped and he fell to the ground. "Hey, you two, stop it!" a guard shouted.

"No, let em. I wanna see who wins. Will it be the thief or the murderer?"

Cora looked at me with wide-eyes. "You got blamed for murdering someone?" she whispered. "Wow, that beats mine."

I smiled, but got the breath knocked out of me by Zane charging at my back. We fell to the ground, and he began punching me with both his fists. It hurt, but it didn't leave any mark.

A guard raced up to us and pulled us off one another. He kept Zane away from me a second, and when he turned away from Zane to go to me, I saw that Zane was getting up off the ground without any cuffs.

The guard then took mine off, and I got to my feet. When the guard went back towards the door, Zane slowly approached me, cracking his knuckles in this other hand, and then vice-versa. "You're gonna get a big whooping, pretty boy."

He charged at me again, fist raised, but I sidestepped him again, and the crowd stepped back from trying not to get punched. Cora was already out of the way, so it was good.

"Oh, think you're funny, huh? Dodging everything I throw at you? You're a sissy, if you ask me." Zane threw another punch at me again, but this time, I didn't sidestep. I caught his fist in my hand without even moving an inch. Zane looked at me with wide-eyes. Then, he threw his other fist at me, but I caught that one, too. I smiled a big, wide grin.

"Think you're funny, huh?" I said, mocking him. "Well, taste this!" I let go of his left fist, and took his other fist and threw him in the air, and back behind me onto the ground, all with one hand. The crowd was speechless.

Zane gasped for breath, obviously knocked breathless. He looked up at me, trying to get up. When he succeeded, he threw another punch at me. I sidestepped him again, and this time, I grabbed the back of his jersey and did the same thing before again, still all with one hand. The crowd was speechless because Zane had to have weighed at least 125 pounds, and for a 114-pound kid to pick him up with one hand and do that to him, well…

Zane was breathless again on the ground. I shuffled my hands together, wiping them off. "So, gonna try it again, Zane?"

He slowly shook his head, and I smiled. Looking up at the crowd, they were silent at first, but then they began to cheer for me. I looked over at Cora, and she smiled.

I walked over to Cora and whispered in her ear, "I'm breaking out tonight. Where's your cell?"

She answered before I was re-cuffed and dragged back inside. "Cell 372."

**Do you think Astro will be able to break out of jail? Hope you liked this Chapter. R&R!**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

My eyes shot open and I blinked in the darkness, confused as to where I was, but I quickly remembered I was in my cell. There was little light shining through the window up above, the moon showing that it was a little past new. They turned out all the lights when it was time for bed, anyway.

I sat up, my cuffs jingling slightly and I sighed. The freedom that I had had when my cuffs were off and I was beating up Zane was incredible. It was truly exhilarating. Then, my thoughts snapped back to the present as I remembered that I was breaking out.

There was always a guard posted outside every other door, but the doors were sort of far away from each other, so I guess it was a good guarding system, but not good enough, I could guess. I snapped my handcuffs off my hands, catching them before they could clank on the hard stone ground below. I yanked off my ankle cuffs as well, grabbing them before they could make a loud noise. Unlucky for me, there was a guard outside my door.

I smiled and set the cuffs gently onto my bed. I had a plan, and it was going to work. I wasn't just going to bust out of here. I needed to have a little fun in the process.

I began to cough loudly, trying to make it sound like I had started choking on something, making the guard notice me. "H-help!" I choked out, making it sound as if I were out of breath, so to speak.

"Shut up," the guard mumbled uncertainly, and I heard the rustle of his clothing as he moved a little, uncomfortably, it would seem. His gun rattled as well as he grabbed hold of it firmly.

_It must be one of the new ones,_ I thought, smiling. I coughed louder, inhaling deep, making it sound as if I were gasping for air. I was going to make it seem like I was dying in that cell, scare the living crap out of the new guard.

It seemed to work. Just before the cell door opened—and again, since there was no light, the guard wouldn't notice my cuffs were off—I hid the cuffs below me, just so he wouldn't see them on the bed. He ran in and started pounding on my back. In the process, he set his gun down on the bed. _Bad mistake, kid._

I smiled, stopped coughing, and lunged for the gun. The guard's eyes widened in surprise and he jumped back in self-defense. I pointed the gun at him, my eyes gleaming with triumph. "Make one wrong call or move, and I'll put a bullet in you." I didn't really wanna harm anybody, but I did what I had to do to get out of juvie.

His arms trembled as he put them up in the air. "D-don't shoot me, please!" he whispered, his eyes wide with panic. "I-I just got this job! I don't wanna die the first night!"

I pointed the gun downward in hesitation, and as I did, the new guard put his trembling arms down by his side. "Thank you so much!" he whispered, but I could see one of his arms reaching into his pocket, probably for his tazer. "Thank you—"

He cut himself off, ripping the tazer from his pocket and shooting the charge straight at me. I jumped out of the way, cocked the gun and pointed it at his head. The guard's arms immediately went back up in the air, dropping his tazer in the process. I glanced down at his pants and realized in his fear, he had soiled himself. _Typical humans, I suppose._

I ran up to the guard and hit him on the back of the head, knocking him unconscious for the time being. I hurried towards my door, looking out both ways, making sure I hadn't caused a commotion, before bolting in the direction of Cora's cell.

I passed a few more guards on my way there. Luckily for me, Cora's cell was somewhat close to the front door. I'm surprised the alarm just hadn't gone off yet. Surely the guard was watching the security tapes? I shook my head to clear it, charging forward and knocking the guard in front of Cora's door unconscious.

I heard a rustling and jingling noise from inside as Cora awoke. I yanked the door open, with no use for a key. Cora thought I had used the key, and so she didn't care. She ran up to me and jumped in my arms, and my eyes widened. I smiled and hugged her back. She pulled away from me and looked into my eyes.

"Now would you be so kind as to remove _my_ cuffs?" she asked, her eyes glowing.

I smiled at her, but then my smile faded as I realized that I didn't have the key. _I don't want her to know about me…not yet,_ I thought to myself as I stared down at her cuffs. _But…_

I growled at myself and stomped on her ankle cuffs, breaking them off, and ripped off her handcuffs. They both clinked to the floor as I ripped them off. She stared at me with confusion, but I grabbed her arm and yanked her out the door. By the time we "snuck" past the guards "guarding" the exit, the alarms began to ring and the searchlights came on outside. I grabbed her other arm, throwing the gun down. I looked into her eyes and she looked into mine. "Cora, don't scream, don't be scared, and don't—whatever you do—don't you dare let go of me, okay?"

She opened her mouth to question me, but I interrupted her by jumping into the air just as the guards came pouring out into the courtyard, and I flew off. I looked back at the guards on the ground, their shocked and puzzled faces amusing me.

Then, I looked at Cora. Her eyes were wide with fright, but as I looked at her, she suddenly remembered what I asked her to do, and she sort of relaxed as we flew off into the night.

…

I landed on the front steps to the SLA, Cora breathing heavily. She looked over at me and smiled, laughing in the process. "Astro, that…" She cut off and laughed some more. "That was amazing! How'd you do that?"

I smiled and looked away. _I still don't want her to know, so…_ "I-it was nothing," I said, scratching the back of my head. "I just had rocket-propelled boots is all." I smiled, hoping she would believe me.

She seemed hesitant for a minute, but then she smiled again and hugged me. "I'm so glad we got out," she breathed in my ear. "We didn't belong there."

I blinked, surprised. She used the term "we" an awful lot. I pulled away, and she looked at me in confusion.

"What's wrong?" she asked, her eyes bright. "You did want to break out, didn't you?"

I sighed and looked over at her. "Yes, but… I-I just didn't want to be a fugitive, you know?" I clenched my fists by my side, closing my eyes as I remembered the day Toby's mom had died. _It wasn't my fault. She just couldn't take the fact that Toby had died… But now I guess she's with her son… _I opened my eyes, releasing my fists, and looked back at Cora. I grabbed her arm. "Come on. Let's go."

We ran inside the SLA. Lucky for us, they always left their doors unlocked, just because they knew I always snuck out— _No, not me… It was Toby who always snuck out and came here at night…_ I sighed inwardly, rounding the corner towards Ed's science lab. I pushed open the doors, Cora following behind.

I stopped as a huge robot looked down at me, but then I remembered that it was just Zog, Ed's newest robot. I wasn't sure if it was "alive" yet, but… I looked at Cora, her eyes trained on the huge construction robot.

I laughed. "Don't be afraid." She looked at me, and I continued. "That's just Zog. He's not even turned on yet. He can't hurt you."

She nodded. "Okay," she said, continuing to look up at the huge robot.

I couldn't help but wonder if what I said was wrong, but I shook myself inwardly. _It can't hurt us. It's going to be like me, like a good person…right?_

We whipped our heads up as we heard a whirring noise, and realized that Zog's eyes were glowing. He was being turned on, but how?

Ed stepped out from behind Zog. I looked away from the huge construction robot for a second. He had a huge smile on his face. "Well, what a lovely surprise, Astro!" he said. He glanced in Cora's direction, her eyes still trained on the robot. "Who's this?"

I smiled. "This is Cora. We…" I looked at her, and she looked back. "We kind of…were thrown in juvie for no reason, and we broke out…" I laughed half-heartedly, watching Ed's reaction on his face go from happiness to pure madness.

"Astro!" he screamed. "Why'd you do that? For all you know, Cora here could've actually _done_ something wrong! And you broke her out! I know you would've never done anything to actually get put in juvie, because you have the blue core inside you, and that makes you pure—"

I waved my hands in the air, looking nervously from Cora to Ed. "No, no, no, Ed. No. I don't have anything in me."

Cora looked confused. "What's he talking about?"

I laughed nervously. "N-nothing, Cora. Just forget it."

She placed her hands on her hips. "Tell me. What's he talking about?"

I scratched the back of my head. "Um…well—"

"Oh, so he hasn't told you yet?" Ed said, smiling a greedy smile.

I waved my hands in front of me. "No, Ed. Please, no. I want to tell her myself."

"Okay, what's all this about? You know I deserve to know things too."

Ed chuckled softly. "What is she, your girlfriend? You know robots don't have emotions."

I looked embarrassed at first, but then I realized that Ed just told Cora I was a robot. I slapped my face into the palm of my hand. "Ed!" I screamed.

Cora took a step back. "You're…you're a robot…? And you never told me…?" She looked at the ground for a moment, and then looked back at me. "Is that why you beat Zane? Did you actually kill someone?"

I shook my head and opened my mouth to speak, but Ed beat me to it. "No, Astro is not capable of such things. His core's too pure. He cannot kill or harm anybody."

"That explains why he can fly, I guess…" Cora murmured.

"I—" I started, but I was cut off as an ominous whirring noise sounded from Zog. All three of us looked up at the robot at the same time, and I was surprised when I saw Zog's eyes glowing red.

I looked at Ed quickly. "You put the red core in it, right?"

He nodded. "Yes."

I looked at it and realized it was locking onto something to fire something from its cement churning hand. "You didn't load it with weapons, did you?" I shouted above the noise.

"I—" Ed was cut off as a high-pitched beeping sounded from Zog. He was aiming straight at me. He raised his arm as it began rolling and glowing inside. It was glowing red. It was going to shoot me.

I screamed. Grabbing Ed and Cora in my hands, I flew out of the room as fast as I could. All I could hear was Cora screaming, Ed shouting, and Zog's weapon firing at where I once was. I flew out the main entrance and watched as Zog broke through the wall and headed straight for town. It was dawn, and nobody would be up yet.

Everyone was in trouble.


	11. Chapter 11

**Here, guys. Chapter 11! I finished it yesterday, too!**

Chapter 11

"No!" Ed shouted at the robot as it stomped away towards the city. "No, it wasn't supposed to be bad!"

Cora was shell-shocked about the whole thing. I blinked. "Well, obviously it was evil from the start. You know I suspected this whole thing. I have the _blue_ core, and he has the _red_ core… You know some people would say that blue is good and red is bad."

Ed glared at me, and I laughed, shrugging it off. "You're just upset because I'm right."

He sighed to himself, watching Zog stomp closer to the city. He was about 10 miles away. "What are we gonna do?"

I thought for a moment. Then it occurred to me. "Do you have a car, Ed?"

He looked at me, puzzled. "No. Why?"

I stomped my foot on the ground. "Dang it! I need a car."

Cora blinked at me. "Don't you need a license for that? Even if you are a robot?"

I glimpsed at her and smiled. "I think I know who to ask." I looked back at Ed. "Stay here and don't do anything rash. I'll be right back." I reached for Cora's hand. "Will you help me?"

She looked at my hand, and then up into my eyes. She smiled and took my hand. "Let's go."

I jumped into the air and flew away from the SLA, watching Zog out of the corner of my eye get closer to the city.

As we were flying, Cora looked at me. "So, you're a robot?"

I nodded. "Yes."

"Do you have emotions?"

I blinked and looked down. "Uh…I'm not entirely sure. There were these times where I was completely angry and sad, and one time, I cri—" I blushed and looked away.

"You cried?" Cora wondered, finishing my sentence. "It's okay to cry… But, I'm not sure if being a robot fits into that criteria."

"It doesn't matter," I said. "We need to get to where we're going, and ask the person we're going to about the car."

"Who _are_ we going to ask?" Cora asked me.

I smiled. "A friend."

I landed in front of Andy's house and put Cora down. We ran up to the door and knocked. "Hello? Anyone home? Open up! It's me, Toby."

Cora looked confused at the name, but I shook my head slightly. The door opened and Andy's Mom stared down at us. "Oh, hello, Toby. What're you doing here so early?" she said, rubbing her eyes. "Andy's not up yet." She looked over at Cora, seeming to finally notice her for the first time. "Who's this?"

"Laura, please, I don't have time to explain anything," I hurried. "I need to talk to Andy, and fast."

"O-okay," Andy's Mom said, stepping aside. "He's in his room, like always."

Cora and I ran up the stairs towards Andy's room. I opened his door and saw Andy in his bed, snoring the day away. I shook him violently. "Andy. Andy, wake up!"

He jolted awake, sitting upright in his bed. "Huh? What?" He rubbed his eyes from the sleep and finally zoned in on now. "Astro? What're you doing here? Who's that?"

"Andy, I need to know where that rundown Toyota Camry is. You remember? I need it."

He got up from his bed and stretched, yawning. "Why do you need it, if I may ask? And you still didn't tell me who this is," he said, pointing to Cora.

"That's Cora. But I need the car because there is an evil robot heading towards the city, and I have a plan. I need that car." I looked at him with determination, making sure he didn't think I was lying to him.

"Okay…" Andy said, looking from me to Cora. "Why is there an evil robot threatening the city?"

"Because Ed was being stupid and put an evil core inside it!" I shouted, realizing I was being loud, and probably waking everyone up. "Now it's going to destroy Metro City, and…I think I need to destroy it."

"Alright," Andy said, putting a sweatshirt on over his clothes (he doesn't wear pajamas). "Come with me. I'll show you where it is."

We ran back down the stairs and out the door, saying a quick 'goodbye' to Andy's Mom. Andy stopped just outside the door, almost making Cora and I run into him. "Let's just fly there," he said. "That'll be quicker."

I smiled and looked at Cora. "Good idea."

I jumped into the air with Andy and Cora in my arms. Andy was directing me towards the car and we quickly found it, just outside the city. I landed, putting Andy and Cora down. I looked into the distance, seeing Zog coming at us in the rising sun. As soon as I looked, Cora and Andy looked too, and Andy was surprised.

"Holy crap, is he big!" Andy exclaimed.

"Okay, Andy, I need one more favor," I said, putting both my hands on his shoulders. "I need you to go to Juno's place and get him."

"Why?"

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Just…please, Andy."

He nodded quickly and ran off in the direction of Juno's house. I returned my gaze to the Toyota and walked quickly towards it. Cora followed more slowly. I jumped in through the open window and opened the glove box. There were some cleaning products in there, and I took them out, jumping back out of the car. I hyped them up with my core's power and then I cleaned the whole car, making it look brand-new again. I set the cleaning products down on the ground and headed over to the engine. I opened the hood and recoiled automatically. It stunk.

"Aw, jeez! Could this day get any worse?" I said, waving my hand in front of my face.

Cora giggled from the side of the car. "Robots pass gas now?"

I looked over at her. "What? No! It's the engine. It stinks!"

She giggled again. "Sure it is…"

I huffed impatiently. "Alright, can you hand me the cleaning products again?"

She hurried over to me and handed me the cleaning products. By the time I was done cleaning everything, Andy and Juno returned.

Juno looked at me with his arms crossed. "Andy told me the gist of it, that there's an evil robot heading towards the city and you need this car for something… But for what, exactly?"

I smiled, looking at all three of my friends. "I'm going to make the first flying car."

Everyone was shocked. Juno was the only one that spoke out. "What? Whoa, whoa. Astro, you can't do that! Do you know how many failed attempts people have had trying to do that? Remember last year?"

I sighed as I remembered last year's new flying car model. Some nice family bought it (millionaires) and it exploded with all of them in it. "Yeah, I remember, but this isn't going to be a failed attempt… And even if it is, no one's coming with me. I'm pretty sure I can withstand an explosion."

Cora and Andy stepped towards me. "I'm coming with you," they said at the same time. They looked at each other, puzzled.

I shook my head. "No. No one's coming with me. This is too dangerous." I looked back towards Zog's form in the distance. He was getting closer. Lost in my thoughts, I heard Juno exclaim, "Whoa!"

That snapped me back. "Alright Juno, I need you to get me a wrench and—"

He took it out of his pocket. "I carry one with me all the time."

"Screwdriver?"

He took it out of his other pocket. "Yup." He handed them to me, and I hyped them up with my blue core's power, and set to work. It took me about five minutes (probably a new record) and I jumped into the driver's seat. I used my blue core's power to start it, and the engine started and I revved it. It began to float off the ground, the ground below it glowing a bluish color.

Juno was cheering for me, and Andy and Cora were both silent, staring at me with pleading eyes. They came up to the car and Andy was first.

"Astro," he began, "please don't die. I don't need to deal with Toby's death twice in one year. You're my best friend, dude. I… I guess you could say that I love you like my brother. Just…please don't kill yourself."

I smiled at him. "I promise I won't die, Andy." _Although, I'm not too sure of it myself… _Cora came up to the window next.

She hesitated, looking at the ground. As her eyes returned to mine, she said something really softly. "What?" I asked.

"I said," she said louder, "don't die, Astro…or Toby…or whoever you are."

"I was Toby…but I'm Astro," I told her, my eyes calming when I looked at her.

She looked into my eyes. "Please don't die. I—" She broke off, swallowing. "I…love you."

I blinked, realizing that was the emotion I had felt when I first saw her. It was love.

"I love you, too, Cora," I said.

"Eww," Andy said.

I chuckled a little and looked into Cora's eyes. We both leaned in, our eyes closing, when Andy yelled, "ASTRO! IT'S SHOOTING SOMETHING!"

We snapped back, embarrassed. I looked out the opposite window, seeing that Andy was telling the truth. It was shooting something, _at_ something.

I realized that it was shooting at the school. _Good thing it's a Saturday and no one's there._ It shot the school, leaving it burning in flames.

I looked back at my three friends. "I have to go… This… This is my destiny." I revved the engine and flew off towards Zog.

…

I reached the evil robot and pressed a button on the dashboard. The headlights on the car opened up and fired laser cannons at Zog. Zog roared and tried to swat me away.

"You're not killing me that easily!" he shouted. Taken aback by surprise that it could talk, I wasn't watching where I was going. Zog swatted my car and it went down towards the ground and it smashed. No matter how much I had cleaned it, it's exterior was still old.

I stood up from the rubble and brushed a piece of metal off of me. I panted for breath. _That hurt really bad!_ I looked at Zog and sensors in my head were practically exploding. All I could see in my eyesight was 'Red Core Detected' and 'Engaging arm cannons'.

My arms transformed into cannons and I looked at them with surprise. "Ha! Cool!" I aimed at Zog and fired them, and was blown back from the fire of my cannons. This seemed to hurt Zog more than the flying car's cannons did. _Maybe it's because I'm the good and he's the evil?_

_So much for using the car…_

I flew into the air and flew around Zog, firing the cannons at his head. He roared with pain and began trying to swat me away again. "No! You cannot defeat me!" Zog shouted. He ran off into the city. I paused, awe-struck at how fast he was running away. _If he could run that fast, why didn't he do it when he was _approaching_ the city?_

I shook my head and flew after him. I was gaining on him, and I fired at the back of his head. Zog roared again and he ran faster, about the same speed as I was flying.

"Dang it!" I muttered, trying to fly faster.

Zog was headed into the city, and whatever he was going to do wasn't going to end up in harmony.

**CORA**

"Look!" Andy shouted, pointing in the direction of Astro. "Zog crushed his car!"

"Aww, man! He actually did make the first successful flying car!" Juno exclaimed.

I blinked with shock. I didn't want Astro to get hurt. I looked and saw that Astro was getting up and he fired cannons from his arms at the huge construction robot. _I guess he didn't need that car after all… Hopefully he'll defeat Zog and then he can make more flying cars._

"Go, Astro!" Andy shouted, throwing his fist in the air. Juno and Andy were cheering for him, but I didn't want to. I knew something bad was going to happen to him, I just knew it. _Maybe I should've gone with him anyway… It's not like I'm going to be missed… My parents are dead, and I have no siblings…_

"Cora?"

I looked over at Andy. He was looking at me with concern. "Why aren't you cheering for Astro?"

"Yeah, why aren't you cheering for your _boyfriend?"_ Juno added snidely.

_He's just jealous._ "I think I know what's going to happen to him."

"What? Are you psychic?" Juno asked.

Andy punched his shoulder. "Stop it. You know that's not nice."

"Well, I'm only stating my opinions. You know you shouldn't have gotten me anyway. He didn't need that car. I think he's stupid."

This seemed to set something off in Andy. His eyes blazed with anger. "Now, look here, Juno. He is my _best friend._ I would _die_ for him. Even if he isn't the real Toby I knew, at least I know that he'd do the same thing for me!"

"Or _would_ he?"

Andy growled with anger and pounced on Juno. They began punching each other and kicking each other in the stomachs. They were even hitting each other in the groins.

"Stop it!" I exclaimed, but they didn't stop.

"STOP!"

All three of us froze. That wasn't any of our voices. In fact, it didn't sound like ours at all. It sounded like…

"Toby?" Andy asked. He got off of Juno, his face all bloody from being punched. "I-is that you?"

"Whoa, dude…" Juno breathed. "It's a ghost!"

I blinked at Toby's ghost. It looked exactly like Astro did. It sounded just like him, too. _Is this who he was originally?_ I wondered. _But…how is this him?_

The Toby ghost looked at Juno first. "Juno, I never really liked you. You were always in the bully group, bullying me around. In fact, you were one of the bullies that bullied me the day before I died."

_He…died? Then that means that Astro is a copy of Toby…_ I thought to myself.

"I-I'm sorry," Juno stammered. "I didn't know that you were going to die the day after."

"You shouldn't have been bullying me in the first place. You shouldn't even bully kids. What do they do to you? They do nothing. You just get satisfaction from it. Either that, or your just scared that Gavin was going to crumble you."

Juno looked at his feet in devastation.

Toby turned to Andy. "Andy."

"Toby."

Toby smiled at his best friend. "Andy, you are the most best friend anyone could ever have. Even if I'm not with you now, doesn't mean I'm not _with_ you. I mean, look at Astro. He's with you now, but not exactly. He's off fighting to the death out there."

"Is…is he really fighting to the death?" Andy asked.

"Yes, I'm afraid so," Toby said, his eyes closed. He opened them and continued. "But, Andy, you will always be my best friend. Nothing will ever change that."

"Thank you, Toby," Andy said, his eyes tearing up.

Then, the Toby ghost turned to me. We blinked at each other for a minute before he spoke. "Cora, I never truly knew you, and I don't know you now. But I know you enough to know that if I had truly met you before I died, I would've loved you just like Astro does."

"R-really?" I asked him.

He nodded, his image beginning to fade. "Robots can't have emotions, true… But Astro's blue core makes it so he is pure. He is like a human being. He has emotions. And he loves you, Cora, and I would have too, had I have known you."

I smiled. "Thank you, Toby."

The ghost of Toby faded until you couldn't see his outline anymore. I think that seeing the ghost left us all speechless. It certainly seemed that way on the faces of Andy and Juno. _I'm not sure about my own face, but… I think I feel a tear going down my cheek._ I wiped my face, and sure enough, there was a tear going down it.

**A/N: Alright guys, I'm sorry it took so long to upload the last chapter, I kind of just picked this story back up yesterday. I finished the last chapter and this one yesterday. There's a lot of things going on in this chapter huh? I really only think there will be a few more chapters in this story, but it'll be worth it. Mostly fighting scenes…and some from Cora as well. Maybe we'll get in Andy's POV.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey, guys! A heads up, this is kind of a long chapter… Well, it's kinda worth it! Worth the wait, too! Hope you enjoy! :)**

Chapter 12

I tried to kick my rockets to make them go faster, but my last failed attempt almost left me careening into a building. So, I just kept straining myself. I looked ahead of me. Zog was growing steadily farther away, and the people of Metro City were in great danger.

_If only I knew how to really stop him…_ I thought to myself. Just then, my rocket fire turned from red to blue and I sped up gradually, Zog's form getting closer and closer.

I neared his small, beady little head, and I threw my fist back, ready to punch it, but suddenly, he turned away from me, and my fist hit the air, sending me spinning. I stopped myself and held my head. It was spinning and it felt like I had a beginning of a headache (if robots could have headaches).

I looked in the direction Zog went, noticing that he went towards the power plant, that held all the hover boxes that kept the city afloat (oh, yeah, I forgot to mention that the SLA made a power plant with new hover boxes that last forever).

_When I catch you, you are _dead! I sped towards Zog's retreating form and came up to it pretty fast. I swung my fist back and punched Zog away from the power plant. He landed in a dirt pile, straining to get back up, because his stubby feet couldn't function like mine, or normal humans'. Zog hopped back onto his feet and growled at me.

"You cannot and will not defeat me, robot boy. No one can! I am _invincible!"_ Zog spat at me. He aimed at me with his arm cannon, and fired it. I was too slow to react and it hit me. It hurt really bad, whether I could fathom it or not. I had spun into the ground, and I slowly stood up, holding my arm. My other arm transformed back into an arm cannon, and I fired at Zog, but I was too hurt, and he was too fast. He evaded my attack and hit me with another cannon blast.

I groaned with pain on the ground, turning my head slightly to see Zog hovering over me like a huge building. And he was laughing. Laughing! Like a maniac!

"Now look at you, robot boy, all small and defenseless!" He laughed again, reaching down with his hand to pick me up by the back of my shirt. "Well you just have to face the fact that no one, not even you, can defeat the all-mighty Zog!" He raised his cannon arm and it began to hum and whir. I had a feeling this would be the second to last time I would get hit before I would die.

_Just face it, _a voice rang in my head,_ you're just too powerless to defeat it._ I shook my head inwardly. "No…" I muttered out loud. "No, I can't stop now. I can't! I _CAN'T!"_

My rockets kicked in and the flames reached all the way out and burned Zog's face. He dropped me, holding his face, and I flew away and turned back around to face him.

Zog growled with pure rage. He grabbed for me again, but I sped off, firing my arm cannons at his head. This time, it was really hyped up, and Zog flew back a few hundred feet and landed onto the ground with a huge thud.

"Ow…" Zog groaned, rubbing his head, and slowly trying to get back on his feet.

I hovered over him and smirked. "Who's small and defenseless now?"

**ANDY**

I blinked, stricken at what just happened and what I just saw. It was Toby. Toby's ghost. It was him. Here.

_And you let him get away…_ a voice said in my head.

_Shut up! _I thought to the voice. _I _did not!

The voice snickered. _Oh, but you did, Andy! You did! Did you even notice the sad look on Toby's face when he looked at you the last time?_

I thought back to when Toby's ghost had appeared, stopping Juno and me from fighting.

"_Andy, you are the most best friend anyone could ever have. Even if I'm not with you now, doesn't mean I'm not _with_ you. I mean, look at Astro. He's with you now, but not exactly. He's off fighting to the death out there."_

"_Is…is he really fighting to the death?"_

"_Yes, I'm afraid so,"_ _Toby said, his eyes closed. He opened them and continued._ _"But, Andy, you will always be my best friend. Nothing will ever change that."_

"_Thank you, Toby," _At that exact moment, Toby had glanced at me so sadly…like I was…

_Going to die?_ the voice answered.

I looked at the ground. _I'm not sure I want to know that answer…_

"Hey, Andy."

I looked up to see Cora staring at me, wiping tears from her face. Toby had told her that he would've loved her just like Astro does.

_Love…_ the voice spat. _Love is a lie!_

_How would you know?_ I asked it.

The voice laughed. _Don't you remember Kayana?_

My eyes suddenly found the road very interesting. _I…I do._

_She dumped you._

_It was for a good cause!_

_Yeah, just so she could date someone else._

_I'm too young anyway…_

_But you loved her._

"Andy?" Cora called.

I looked up at her, blinking away my thoughts. She looked at me sadly, like she knewI was gonna die too. _God, does _everyone_ know?_

"Are you okay?" she asked.

I blinked, looking away. "I-I'm fine…"

She came over to me and put a hand on my shoulder. "Andy, Astro will be fine. Nothing's gonna happen to him."

_Yeah, not to _him…

I sighed and looked back to Cora. "Yeah…but…" _Should I tell her?_ I shook my head mentally. _No, that'll just make her self-conscious._

"Hey!"

We both jolted our heads to look over at Juno, who was pointing at the battle. "What, Juno?" I asked.

"Astro! I think he's winning!"

Cora and I looked towards the battle. Astro had taken it towards the power plant, but the huge robot was lying in a ditch with Astro hovering over it, aiming his arm cannon at it.

"Yeah, I would doubt it. That robot would not give up _that_ easily…" Cora muttered.

_Hey, thanks. Why don't you jinx everything now?_ I thought sarcastically, scowling at Cora, but then returned my gaze to Astro's battle.

**ASTRO**

"Ready to die now?" I asked, pointing my arm cannon at the robot.

Zog chuckled, a slow and drawn out chuckle. "You want to kill me, robot boy? Go ahead! I'll be glad."

I hesitated for a split second, and that split second was all it took for Zog to get up and slam me to the ground. I was facing Zog, my head in between his thick fingers, while he was pointing his cannon at me. "Ow…" I breathed, struggling to get free.

**ANDY**

"Oh, no…" I gasped, watching as Zog flipped Astro over onto his back, poised to finish him off. _I…have to stop him…_ I thought. _At least distract him… _I smiled to myself.

Cora and Juno looked at me with confused expressions. "Dude!" Juno exclaimed. 'You're smiling! And Astro's losing!"

Cora folded her arms and scoffed, "The heck, man?"

"I have to do this," I said, and without any more from the two teens, I took off down the street.

**ASTRO**

"It's no use…" Zog laughed. His arm cannon sped up, the red inside it glowing faster and brighter. "This is the end, robot boy!"

I struggled to get free, but Zog only pushed down harder onto me. "Ahh!" I screamed, my face now pushing up against dirt.

He laughed slowly, almost evilly. "Any last words, all-mighty _Astro?"_

I squinted my eyes at him, gasping for air, watching as my final moments came…

**CORA**

"Andy! Where are you going?" I called after the retreating form of Andy. He was running down the street towards someone else's house. My hand dropped back to my side, and I huffed. "Well, what's he doing? Astro's losing and he's just gonna run away?"

"He said something about doing something…" Juno muttered. "Like he was determined, or something."

My eyes blinked and I looked back to Astro's fight. Zog's arm cannon was getting brighter and brighter. Gasping, I looked back at Juno. "He's gonna lose!" I began sobbing, tears streaking down my face.

Juno's eyes softened. "It's okay," he soothed. He walked up to me silently and put his arm around my shoulders. "Astro will be fine. He's not gonna lose."

I pushed his arm off my back. "What makes you say that? You don't know! For all you know, he could be _dying_ right now! Malfunctioning or something—" I broke off as something whizzed by Juno and I. I turned to watch a gray Dodge Dart bolt down the street and then into the fields, heading straight for the battle.

"Andy! NOO!"

**ANDY**

I pressed down with all my might onto the accelerator and sped off of the road and into the field. I steered the wheel right towards Zog and Astro, heading straight for Zog. I was completely aware of Cora and Juno running towards me, trying to wave for my attention.

_I _have_ to do this,_ I thought to myself. _It's…my destiny,_ I remembered, quoting Astro before he took off.

If even possible, the car sped up faster and lifted off the ground.

**ASTRO**

"AHH!" I screamed as Zog pressed harder onto my robotic body.

"Oh, no! Your last word!" Zog sneered, ready to strike me with his cannon.

We both stopped, listening to an approaching engine sound. I looked through Zog's hand to see a gray Dodge Dart coming at Zog at full speed, and…it was flying? But then, I saw someone familiar in the front seat.

Andy.

"Andy! NOO!" I screamed, struggling with all my might against Zog's hand. But it was no use. Zog was pushing down too hard.

Andy's car crashed right into Zog at high speeds, knocking Zog right over and freeing me from his grasp. I quickly ran over to the now-smoking sports car and ripped off the passenger door (because it was flipped onto the driver's side).

I jumped in the seat, ripping off Andy's seatbelt and pulling him gently out. He was covered in blood, some of it was dry and some of it was wet. I rocketed out of the car with Andy in my arms, watching as Zog lay motionless, the car beginning to catch flame and then—

"Oh, crap!" I sped away.

BOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The car exploded, sending Andy and I flying into the ground, causing more injury to Andy and knocking Zog even farther away.

I lifted my head up slowly and heard a soft moan coming from up ahead.

"Ohhh, my head! It hurts!"

I wobbled to my feet, grabbing hold of my arm and struggling over to Andy on the ground. Once I got there, I fell to my knees and took a hold of Andy's head in my hands. "Andy…" I breathed, tears beginning to form in my eyes.

His eyes fluttered open for a second. He was gasping for air.

_His ribcage is probably crushed._ Realization struck me and my eyes widened. _Just like Toby…_

"T-Toby…?" Andy gasped.

"No, Andy. It's me, Astro. C'mon, Andy, don't die on me! I promised you I wouldn't die! Now you promise me!" I looked into Andy's eyes, my arms shaking, a tear falling on his face. He didn't even flinch, but he wasn't looking at me either. He was looking…

I followed his gaze and gasped, my chest heaving.

Toby.

**ANDY**

I smiled, still fluttering for breath. "T-Toby, y-you came b-back for me…"

The ghost smiled sadly, looking at both Astro and me. The robot had a complete shocked look on his face. "Andy, I didn't want to say it to your face before, in front of all your friends."

I still smiled despite my struggle for breath. "J-Juno isn't m-my friend…"

"T-Toby?" Astro asked, flabbergasted.

The ghost of Toby smiled at the robot, but returned his gaze to me. "I'm sorry to say that it's your time, buddy."

Still, I smiled. "O-okay…"

Astro turned to me, holding my head firmly in his grasp. I looked to him. "No, Andy, no! Don't go! Don't go…" He broke down, gasping for breaths and crying, tears streaming down his robotic cheeks.

I slowly lifted my hand up to touch his on the side of my face and he looked up at me. "Astro… Don't w-worry about m-me," I told him, gasping. "I-I'll be w-with T-Toby now…"

Astro sniffled. "N-no, Andy. No…"

A single tear from Astro landed on my cheek, and I slowly drifted away, shutting my eyes for the last time, taking a final glance at Toby's ghost, who was reaching out his hand to me…

**ASTRO**

A tear landed on Andy's cheek, and that was the last time he was alive. His last breath was ragged and shallow, desperate, even.

_No…_ I thought to myself. I slowly got to my feet, fists clenched by my side. _No!_ I looked towards where Toby's ghost was, seeing him holding out his hand to a now-ghost Andy.

"No…!" I gasped watching Andy take Toby's hand.

Andy turned to me, both him and Toby fainting into the background. "I'm sorry, Astro," he said, his breaths no longer shallow. "I'm sorry…"

His last word hung on the air as he and Toby faded away. My hands clenched tighter by my sides and I fell to my knees again, watching the wind pick up, wiping their forms away.

"Darn it!" I shouted, my anger blazing through my body like never before. I rocketed into the air and over to Zog, now standing and watching. _"You!_ You killed my _best friend!"_

Zog laughed coldly. "A robot? Have _friends?_ Impossible!"

I hovered there for a moment, fuming. "You are _so_ going to pay!" I screamed. I burst towards Zog, my arms transforming to cannons and firing at max power. "AHH!" I shouted as my cannons shot at the huge robot.

Zog struggled to stay standing, my cannon blasts getting stronger and stronger the more fumed I got. Finally, the last one blasted him and he fell onto his back. I landed on his stomach, aiming the arm cannon.

"Ta da," I said flatly.

Zog laughed a cold, nasty laugh, colder than the others. I blinked in shock as Zog's body began to surge and rumble.

"W-what's happening?" I asked, my voice trembling.

"What's supposed to happen, robot boy! Your _death!"_ Zog shouted, suddenly standing.

I fell over onto my back and gaped at Zog, growing in size until he was at least one hundred times mine.

"This is not going to end well…" I sighed, my eyes widening.

**OH, NOEZ! Will Astro win? What's gonna happen? Poor Andy! Find out the next chapter!**


	13. Chapter 13

**The next and exciting chapter in Robot Boy!**

Chapter 13

"Oh, no…" I breathed, watching Zog grow in size until he was larger than the largest and tallest building in the city.

"Cora, what do we do?" Juno cried, grabbing at his tussocks of messy black hair.

I blinked, puzzled by why he was asking me what to do. I thought for a moment (still not knowing Andy hadn't come back, although you could clearly see his car on his side, but that's not important right now).

"Quick! Call Astro over!" My eyes saddened at the thought of what I was about to suggest.

"What? Why?"

"Just _do it!"_

"ASTRO!" Juno shouted, his hands cupped around his mouth for emphasis. "ASTRO! COME HERE!"

**ASTRO**

"ASTRO!"

I looked over to see Juno and Cora standing about a mile away, waving at me frantically. I looked back up at Zog, who was trying to stomp on me with his now large foot. I jolted and rocketed out of the way and over towards my friends.

Zog, now seeing his chance to destroy Metro City, began stomping in the direction of the major streets.

I landed in front of Cora and Juno, Cora immediately hugging me. I hugged her back after a moment of awkwardness.

"Oh, Astro!" she breathed. "It was so weird! We saw Toby's ghost, and—"

"Wait," I said, holding up my hand. "You saw it too?"

Cora nodded after a few seconds.

"Weird…"

"Hey, where's Andy?" Juno asked.

My eyes dropped to the ground and I quickly looked away.

Cora put her hand to my shoulder. "What's wrong? Where is he?"

I looked back at my two friends, sighing. "He's not coming back."

Juno crossed his arms defiantly. "What do you mean 'he's not coming back'?" he asked, brow furrowing. "We just saw him go—"

"He's dead."

Silence.

"W-what?" Cora stammered.

I nodded, looking away once more. "Yeah, that's right. He's gone. Dead." Sighing, I added, "Zog killed him… He saved my life…"

"That's what he was being so determined about," Juno put in.

I looked at him, confused. "What do you mean?"

"Well, just before he left us, he said something about 'this is my destiny' and 'I have to help him'."

I looked back at the city, now frantic with the yelling of the citizens. I shook my head. "Look, I gotta get back and—"

Cora surged forward and kissed me on the lips. I hesitated, shocked at first, but then I went with it, closing my eyes. She pulled away after a few seconds. "Whoa…" I breathed with a smile. "What was that for?"

She smiled a sad smile. I had a feeling this wasn't going to end out well.

"Astro… I have a plan…but you're not gonna like it…"

**MEANWHILE…**

A red-haired boy with glasses was playing with his little sister in his room. They had a hologram dinosaur game and so far, the boy was winning.

"No fair!" his sister whined. "You're cheating!" She stomped on the ground, causing her dinosaur to stomp as well.

"Stop that!" the boy ordered. "You're making the whole floor shake."

"That's the point of it!"

"Well, stop!"

Then, they both felt a stomp.

"I thought I told you to stop, Annie," the boy said.

"B-but, Leo… I'm not doing it this time…"

They both looked up and out the window to see a giant, huge robot heading straight into the city…and screamed.

**ASTRO**

"_WHAT?!" _I said, unbelievingly. "What do you mean, sacrifice myself?"

"I mean sacrifice yourself," Cora said, crossing her arms while looking away. "I don't like it, but I'm pretty sure it's the only way to stop it."

I looked down to the ground, wondering. _Is this the end?_

"You'll be with us in here," Cora reassured him, pointing at her chest.

I scoffed. "Yeah…" I muttered. "Where does that leave me? What if I _don't_ want to die?"

"ASTRO! You _already_ died!" Juno shouted, waving his hands in the air.

"Oh, yeah…" I said.

"I love you, Astro," Cora said, kissing me on the forehead. I smiled, and then hugged her.

"Goodbye, Cora," I whispered. With a last glance towards Juno, I leapt into the air and rocketed full blast towards the city.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are!" Zog rumbled, looking around for me.

"Hey!" I shouted, rocketing full blast towards Zog. "Time to end this!"

The huge robot, looked down at his chest, then back to me and waved his hands in the air. "No, wait!"

I smiled sadly and burst in through the metal and into the red core in the middle of his chest, my blue core beginning to throb and whir, the energy from it pouring out and combining with the red core.

"AHH!" Zog screamed, grasping at his chest. "Get out!"

My memories flashed before my eyes.

When I was activated…Ed's face looking down at me…

The tornado…when I discovered I could fly…

The disappointment when I figured out I was a robot…

Standing with Andy in the shelter, waiting as Metro City lifted into the sky…

Toby's mom dying…

In juvie…when I met Cora…

Our first kiss…

I closed my eyes and let it all happen…

Then…

BOOOOOOOOOOOM!

**CORA**

I fell to my knees as Astro entered Zog's chest. "I love you…" I whispered to no one in particular.

Then…

BOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Zog exploded, showering debris all over the city and in the field.

"No…!" I cried. _Why did I have to tell Astro to sacrifice himself?_

"Damn!" Juno shouted.

"Why?" I sobbed. "Why did it have to end like this?"

Juno sighed and kneeled down next to me. "He'll always be in our hearts, Cora."

I pushed him away, causing him to fall over onto his butt. "No! I want him to be _here!_ Not in _here!"_ I wailed, pointing at my chest, watching the blue and red energy surge into the sky.

Juno sighed and pushed me to my feet. "C'mon, let's go see the damage…"

"Astro!" I called once we were in the city. "Astro!"

Juno cupped his hands over his mouth. "Astro!"

I sighed, sniffing. "It's no use. Even if he could hear us, I doubt he could come to us. Seeing as to what just happened."

"I'm pretty sure he's dead—"

"_Not helping!"_

"Sorry…"

I looked around the city, the citizens all starting to emerge from their hiding places. "Astro!"

"Look, mommy!" a little girl exclaimed, pointing at something sticking out of some debris.

I gasped as I saw a hand sticking out of it. _Could it be…?_ I raced towards it, Juno following close behind. I kneeled down next to it and started to tug away the concrete slabs. "Help me, Juno!"

Juno flailed his arms, and grabbed onto a concrete slab, pulling it away from Astro's body.

Soon, he was uncovered, but…

He was dead.

I sobbed again, holding Astro's hollow head in my hands. "No… He shouldn't have gone through with my plan! He should've done something else!" I cried.

"T-Toby…?"

Our heads snapped up to a sudden voice. A man in his mid-thirties ambled towards us slowly. "Who are you?" Juno asked.

The man shot the boy a glare. "I'm Toby's father."

My brain clicked. _Toby's father…?_

The man kneeled down next to us. "Is he…?"

"Dead?" I finished, looking at him.

Toby's father lowered his head and began sniffling. "I shouldn't have sent him to juvie… I know he didn't kill Zoran… But I was just _so angry!"_ He punched a slab of concrete next to Astro.

Astro began coughing.

I gasped. Juno gasped. Toby's father gasped. Everyone gasped. "Astro?" I asked.

His eyes fluttered open.

**ASTRO**

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

Then, nothing.

Black.

Everything was gone.

Till suddenly…a shake? No, not a shake. A smack?

_Toby's dad…_

My eyes fluttered open and I looked up to see three faces in my view. "Cora? Juno…?" I looked to the left and smiled. "Toby's—?"

"Call me dad, Toby," his dad said, smiling.

"It's…Astro," I choked out, still coughing.

He smiled larger. "Astro."

"How are you alive?" Cora exclaimed, hugging me and laughing.

I smiled. "I-I don't know, I—" I was cut off as a sudden surge of power went through me. "AHH!" I screamed.

Everyone stepped back. "What's happening, Astro?"

All I could see in my vision was, 'Warning: System shut down evident.'

"Astro!" a voice called from the crowd.

I looked over to see Ed running towards us. "E-E-Ed!" I choked out. "H-help m-m-me!"

He leaned over me with a sad look on his face. "There's nothing I can do, Astro."

"W-w-what?!" I rasped, my voice becoming more robotic-like.

"What do you mean you can't do anything?" Dad yelled at the scientist.

Ed shrugged. "His system's shutting down."

"You can turn him back on, right?" Cora asked, sniffing again. When he didn't answer, she said again, "Right?"

Ed shook his head slowly. "I'm sorry. I can't. He's going to be turned off for good. His blue core was unique."

"No!" Cora gasped out.

My vision blurred. I saw numbers appear in it, counting down, it seemed.

10…

"Cora, I love you…very much," I said to her. A tear landed on my face as Cora leaned down to me.

"I know," she whispered, kissing me on the forehead.

9…

"Juno… You're a good guy…when you're not being a jerk," I said to the bully.

He scratched the back of his head nervously and looked away.

8…

"Ed, I'm sorry I ever doubted you. Even though you shouldn't have made Zog in the first place…"

"I know, Astro," Ed said. "I'm sorry."

7…

I looked to my dad… _Yes, _my_ dad._ "Dad," I whispered.

6…

"Yes, son?"

5…

"I know I shouldn't have been mean to you…"

4…

"It wasn't your fault you know."

3…

"Yes, I know. Thank you."

2…

He smiled.

1…

"Goodbye…" I whispered.

'System shutting down…'

**CORA**

I watched as his eyes closed forever. I let out a sad, sad sob. My eyes watered and tears dripped down my face as I watched Astro's eyes die.

"No!" I cried, trying to shake him back to life.

Ed placed a hand on my shoulder. "I'm sorry, Cora. He's not coming back."

I just cried.

"Mommy!" the little girl called out again.

I opened my eyes, wiping them on my sleeve, watching as blue energy from his body surged and began to float into the sky, along with red energy from all around the city.

I sniffed. "Goodbye…Toby."

The energy surged and came together as one, jetting into the sky and out into space, where it formed a star.

**Ta da…!**


	14. Epilogue

**The epilogue…!**

Epilogue

Many years passed since Astro's death. Maybe even a hundred, I don't know.

Andy would always be remembered as the hero who saved a hero…

Toby's father would always be remembered as the man who fathered the hero…

Toby's mother would always be remembered as the woman who died trying to fathom what happened to her baby…

Juno went on with his life. He became a car specialist and worked on creating the first—no, _second_ working flying car…

Andy's parents soon died in a car crash right after they learned of Andy's death…

Robbie went on with his life, getting married and having kids of his own…

Jeff Cavanaugh went on reporting…until he retired a year later…

Ed had a heart attack after Astro died. He was in his lab, maybe two days apart…

And Cora… Cora…

She went on with her life, but she went back to juvie for another year. She died fifty years later…

But life still went on.

A hundred years into the future…

There came a boy…

And there went the boy…

And his father brought him back to life…

In the form of a robot…

**Sniff…THE END! Now you know how the red and blue core came to be, and how Metro City came to be floating in the sky! Other than what the movie told you -_- Anyway! Hope you enjoyed my exciting story!**

**I will be writing another Astro Boy story next, but it's not a boy… IT'S A GIRL! MUAHAHAHA! Erhm…sorry, anyways, this is the next story blurb…**

**Koby is just your ordinary 13-year-old girl, living in Metro City. A hundred years have passed since Astro saved the city from the Peacekeeper and that strange alien squid thing. But Astro had mysteriously disappeared a few months later and no one knows the whereabouts of the robot hero.**

**Koby is soon finding herself in a difficult spot, and soon, her father makes her into a robot (like a robot copy), based after his daughter who died. Will Astra be able to save the coming doom to Metro City? Or will she need some help…?**

**Hope you'll read this one next!**


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